Final Fantasy VII: The Last Reunion
by AngelT
Summary: It seemed that The Tsviets were the last line before the final fall of once so powerfull ShinRa empire. However that was not true. A knock in the door of Vincent Valentine's house might just change everything he'd ever believed in... UPDATED!
1. Stranger In The Night

_Hello there This is my second fanfic about FF. The first one was oneshot and emo(beats me, I was in a crappy mood). Not much to say(unless I want to reveal spoilers) apart from that main character is going to be Vincent Valentine. I hope you will like the story. Comments, constructive critique and reviews are welcome. Flamers - go away, unless you have something productive to say apart from "You stink!" Oh, and last thing: I am not English - speaking and do not use beta - reader, so please do not get too frustrated if there are too many mistakes. Usually there's not._

_Yours, AngelT_

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**Stranger In The Night**

Dark - grey clouds covered Nibelheim as a sick wet blanket. The late autumn season in Nibel Area was always cold, always damp and always stormy. The wild wind was shaking the trees outside old ShinRa mansion making the walls seem to tremble and fear the weird shadows that were dancing on their surface. As always, the mansion looked quite deserted, however, through the wall of rain that was pouring down from the heavens, a persistent individual would see a little light trembling in one of the windows on the first floor.

It illuminated the huge room that was masterfully turned in several separate chambers. The furniture seemed pretty old and obviously was scavenged around the places descent person would not go to. A young, unhealthy looking girl curled up under a patched blanket and was staring in the fire that was dancing in the old, pompous looking fireplace. Orange light made her gingerish hair sparkle like old gold and her blue eyes reflected the jolly little flames. She looked rather thin and could be no more then nine or ten years old.

"I like to watch the fire. It makes me think that humans are just like those flames. Shine bright but one mistake and they die without a trace. Strange and funny at the same time, don't you think?"

It seemed that merely a shadow, born out of fire moved towards the window. Heavy mass of raven black hair slid from one shoulder of a tall, slim built man as he turned around to face the girl. Orange glow reflected on the golden metal of the clawed glove that was his right arm and lit reddish glimmers in his crimson eyes.

"I'd suggest you do not think about it, Shelke. Enjoy the time you still have, that what matters. And who knows? There always can be a place for a miracle."

She wrinkled her nose in pure amusement.

"Unusual to hear such words from a person like you, Vincent Valentine."

"Well perhaps I can then fall on the floor and cry about the poor fate of the humanity and my own, while trying to cut my veins just for pure fun as I cannot die anyway." He said, seemingly estimating the probability of own suggestion. "You think that will suit me more?"

She nodded.

"Obviously. But I think that is getting old. Maybe you must try jumping from the window?"

"Thanks, I'll consider it."

A silence fell in the room and both people stared in the fire hypnotised by as old as time magic of the flames. Vincent let his thoughts swirl around own existence and once again tried to analyze how he ended up here, with Shelke, leading a life similar to a plant. Quiet and pointless. It was, actually not that complicated. After defeating Deepground he wanted to go back to Nibelheim and return to his sleep. There was really nothing left to do, everything was taken care of, his team-mates started to settle down. However there was one little thing Vincent did not know what to do with. Shelke did not had a place to go, she was getting more then just disorientated by the memetic legacy of Lucrecia, that was persistently taking over her mind and, with the last Mako supplies being destroyed she would not last long. He would not admit it even to himself, but Vincent got attached to the ex – Tsviet. Or was he really attached to her? It could be as well because of Lucrecia. Somehow, through Shelke, Vincent tried to live his dream of being with his only ever beloved one. And Shelke knew it. Vincent could perfectly well see what troubled her but each time Shelke was trying to make him talk about the sensible subject, he just silenced and stared on the floor in front of him. One attachment to tear his soul in thousands pieces was already enough. There was no need in any more of them.

"It is getting really late. For your own sake, go to bed." He addressed softly to the girl.

"Will you join me…?"

"No." the answer came colder then he intended. "I do not want to start that roundabout all over again; I thought I made myself clear."

"Vincent, I…"

He stared in the floor, counting the little cracks in the old noble wood.

"Do not start all over again, please. I said it many times and I will repeat it again. I do care about you but there are several lines that I am not able to step over. Take it as it is, there are no other options. "He paused for a second and squeezed his eyelids.

_Why everything always gets so complicated?_

"You are my friend. A close one, perhaps. But that's about it. You've helped me numerous times, I am returning the favour. Do not see more then there is." With those words he turned away to the window and stared into the night. That was his way of saying the talk was over. Soft footsteps behind his back meant that Shelke listened and went away. Vincent released a sight and rubbed his forehead with two fingers. He needed to go away. Vegetative life was killing him. Not that he ever was a fighter but…

"_I've neve__r really was a fighter, was I? Never really fought for myself and my causes… Perhaps what I am now is a direct result of my multiple failures."_

The wind hit the window, making rain stream over the glass like a waterfall. The frame creaked poorly, trying to stand against the forces of nature.

"_Funny I came to think about this. How many failures are there anyway? The row is endless.__ And yet I live while there are plenty of others who deserved it much more and yet they perished."_

For a brief moment the lightening illuminated the sky and Vincent frowned when he saw a figure on the road in front of the mansion, however next second, whoever it was, he disappeared. Cautiously Vincent tapped the holster with the gun that he always carried around and checked the window again. No - one. But the figure was so solid and real that he would bet his gaunlet that it wasn't an optical illusion. The most disturbing fact was that the silhouette was walking down the road that lead to old Mako Reactor. Together with Cloud, several years ago, he 'cleaned' the place from any traces of monsters, destroyed remaining Mako transit pipes and disabled any working mechanics that were left. Reactor was in ruins and Vincent could not imagine who could possibly want to go to there, despite the dangers of Mt. Nibel and such weather.

A weak knock on the door made him turn around and clutch fingers tightly around the gun. The knock repeated a tad more persistent. Vincent leaped to the door and opened it wide, being ready to counterattack if the person on the other side had no peaceful intentions. The lightning torn the sky and Vincent found himself standing in front of a stranger, whose face he could not see as the man bowed forward and was breathing heavily while clutching his side with one arm. Rain had soaked his black suit and was dripping from half – long black hair, making water gathering in a little puddle in front of Vincent's feet.

Just as he opened his mouth to ask who the stranger was and how he got here, the man grunted and all of a sudden clutched the material of Vincent's red cloak between his fingers. "Please… Help me… He will kill me for what I've done…" stranger's hand was trembling slightly as he was speaking. "If he kills me… Nothing will save them…"

Vincent grabbed man's wrist and tried to let go of his cloak.

"What are you talking about? Who will kill you?"

The man started to tremble more intense and bowed his head even lower.

"Hojo…He will kill… me…"

Vincent frowned even more and stopped the attempts of freeing himself.

_How come? Hojo i__s dead in all the ways possible…_

"What is your name?"

The stranger moaned and raised his face. Blood was streaming down his forehead and made a remarkable match with his crimson red eyes.

"Vincent… Valentine…"


	2. Reviving The Past

_That is one of those rare moments when I come with a quick update. The reason? I have an ultimate habit of falling into deep creativity crisis after a while and cannot write anything. So while the ideas are there, I am trying to splash them out. Yup, that's me. To those who had reviewed(ok, even though it is only one person)I pass my big 'Awww, thank you.' and the plate with cookies. They are still warm, so grab 'em. Anyway, I am rambling. Hope you will find the new update interesting. Cheers!_

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**Reviving The Past**

The melodical tune chocked itself and Vincent heard exactly what he had expected, knowing Reeve and his ability to hide head in the sand each time he received a phone call from certain people.

_You have reached the phone of Reeve Tuesti. I cannot be at your service right now but I assure you, if you leave your personal information after the signal, I will contact you back as soon as possible. Have a nice day. _

The high beep nudged Vincent to take some breath and he slowly started dictating his message.

"Fine. I know you are there right now, staring at the phone and listening to me making the fool of myself. Anyway, I want you to call me back _as soon as possible_", that came out in rather mocking tone as Vincent was steadily loosing his temper. "Things are getting crazy here and I need your assistance. Valentine's talking if you did not guess." He angrily slammed his shell phone and put it in one of numerous pockets in his pants. Things were indeed getting rather crazy since the arriving of the stranger that named himself Vincent Valentine. He was heavily wounded and fainted right on the doorstep leaving Vincent no choice but dragging him in and putting on the sofa. After he washed away blood from young men's face last doubt had disappeared like a mist in the morning. The person in front of him _was _Vincent Valentine, a young man in his late twenties… Time when he could still call himself human.

"How can that be? Am I finally going mad?" thought Vincent while walking around the room and constantly staring at the sleeping man on the sofa. "How something like that can possibly happen?" That's when the name of Reeve lightened up in his mind. In past he provided Vincent with the information about Deepground and its activities and even though it wasn't much and most of it he had to experience on his own skin, Reeve's help was appreciated.

'Other' said Hojo will kill him. However Professor Hojo was dead. Vincent looked to it several times and during their last encounter he made sure sick bastard stays that way. There was no way he could return from the dead this time, with all the paths being cut.

_He will kill me for what I've done… If he kills me… Nothing will save them…_

Who was he talking about? Vincent dug deep down in his memory trying to remember the feelings that were buried under the weight of thirty years sleep and endless misery of life after his awakening. Back then there were only two persons he really cared about and since his father died it was only for Lucrecia.

…_Lucrecia and __her unborn child…_

The experiment, he was referring to Jenova Project, it was no doubt in that. Vincent leaped to the sofa and shook guy's shoulder. The young man grunted, shifted a bit and then suddenly opened eyes. It took him a second to understand where he was. The next moment he was already trying to stand up however pain from the wound prevented him from doing that.

"Lucrecia!"

"Yes, we'll eventually get to that." hushed him Vincent and forced his 'twin' to lie down. "Tell me what you are."

Vince on the opposite of him blinked and tilted head a bit.

"My name is Vincent Valentine. I work as Turk for ShinRa Manufacturing… Do I happen to know you?" he then asked trying to focus eyes on Vincent's face. There was a pause, which Vincent used to think how to answer on that question. Does he know him? Apparently he does, they seem to share the same memory, till some degree. But does he _really_ know him? The answer would be no. Vince is his past whilst he, himself, is boy's future.

"I guess I cannot give a satisfying answer on your question." He then sighed.

"This is ShinRa Mansion, I presume? You are, then, the keeper? I knew the approximate location but it was some time since I've been here, it changed drastically." Young man rubbed his face with a painful expression. Painkillers probably started wearing off. Vincent stood up and grabbed first aid kit from little table near the bed. Being Turk meant being educated in various spheres, starting from diplomacy and ending with cleaning toilets. Thirty years old medical course lay still fresh in his mind and, though, he could not provide the required assistance due to lack of materials, basic painkiller – bandaging methods were within his reach. A minute later he came back with a glass of water and a pale - blue pill resting on the little plate.

"Drink this, it will help to jam pain for a while. Later I will try to find something better."

Young man gratefully clutched his fingers around the cup and swallowed the painkiller. He, then, threw himself back on pillows and lowered eyelashes. Vincent narrowed eyes and stared in the shadows of the room. So young and innocent. He could hardly believe he used to be no different. If he only started to fight, perhaps the future would be much more pleasant.

…_Wasn't I fighting? I came to him in order to resolve the conflict. Was it my fault that I turned out to be more of the gentleman then he has ever been?..._

"So, what brought you here?"

The guy opened eyes and looked in Vincent's direction once again.

"I can't remember where I came from... Must've hit my head really hard. There is this man, Hojo. Horrible person who lacks any morals and any sparkle of true genius. And there is woman named Lucrecia Crescent who is…"

…_very beautiful and nice…_

"… very beautiful and nice." Young man paused and blushed a little bit, while his eyes, for a split second became dreamy and seemed to see something others couldn't. "We were… involved but… well… She ended it for the reasons I do not quite understand. She said it was because of my father."

…_I never blamed her for his death, accidents can happen. And she was a young scientist sparkling with energy and hungry for knowledge…_

"She had assumed she was a reason my father died. Strange, really, because how can you blame for an accident?"

He awaited response from his strange listener but the man said nothing and just kept looking around not concentrating on anything.

"Later I found out that she was expecting a child and that the father allowed using the unborn baby in some sort of experiment. I did everything I could to make them change their mind but Lucrecia… She did not want to listen to me and Hojo… he just started threatening my life at some point."

Vincent turned his head away from the fire and finally caught the eyes of his interlocutor.

"And what did you do?"

The answer was obvious but Vincent wanted to hear 'his' reasons. Young man cringed and shook head, making silk dark hair to fall in front of his eyes.

"I know, it may sound cowardly, but I ran away. I had no rights to interfere with the project, it was coming from my superiors and I had a feeling Hojo _will_ kill me if he gets a chance. Being dead would not help me or Lucrecia, so I just… Departed."

"Why didn't I do the same?" whispered Vincent curling hands in fists. "What made me choose this way when I could have done it differently?"

The other Vincent frowned slightly and brushed hair behind his ears.

"Excuse me? I did not catch what you've said."

"Sorry, it's nothing. I am just talking to myself. It happens sometimes…"

The little jingly ringtone broke the pressure in the room. Vincent reached in his pocket and took out vibrating phone, slowly flipped it open and prushed 'OK', while pressing tube to the right ear.

"Yes, it is me… Really, Reeve? That is nice to know, I've started to loose faith in humanity. About the problem… Well… It is just that…" in time he remembered about the presence of a second person in the room. "Call me back in a minute, I will explain everything." With that he broke the connection and squeezed phone in hand, while heading for the doorway that led deeper in the mansion. The guy on the sofa turned around a bit to face the door Vincent was going for.

"I am sorry; I've never properly thanked you for helping me out… What is your name, mister…?"

His saviour abruptly stopped, making the red mantel twirl around him like wings of a hellish creature. For some reason Vince could feel the struggle inside the man who was now standing in the doorway. He already wanted to apologise for asking too much, when the shadowy figure turned around and a slight parody on a smile crawled on his thin pale lips.

"My name is …Vincent Valentine."

Then he turned around and disappeared in the darkness of the hallway.


	3. The Truth Is

_Well, another update Thanks for nice comments, I am happy someone likes the story. Tell your friends! lol. I am slowly falling into Writer's Block so there is a posting gap possible __soon__. So do not get mad if I won't update :P Ok, author notes. The chapter may sound a bit awkward since there are two Vincents and I have difficult time not to cross their names in one sentence, or it will look more then simply strange. So the original Vincent is 'always' Vincent and the second dude is Vince. Complicated, uh? Well, anyway, I hope you will still enjoy the chapter. All the reviewers get free FFVII chars - shaped cookies covered in chocolate, mind you. :D_

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**The Truth Is…**

"Well hello there, Vincent, long time no seen. Or should I say 'heard'?" Reeve was as cheerful and polite as always. Vincent, himself, felt rather murderous. And not because of Tuesti and his eternal happiness. It just so happened that he hated any kinds of surprises. Vincent preferred his life to be monotonous and boring and any unexpected waves in the calm sea made him highly irritated.

"Vincent, are you still there?" asked Reeve with slightly concerned voice.

"Yes, naturally."

"Good, I thought you might be dead or something. Get it? Dead?" Tuesti started laughing over his own, apparently successful, in his opinion, joke.

"Enough." That came out in rather dangerous tone, making clown on the other side of the line to become serious again.

"Forgive me. So what was that you wanted to discuss?"

"You tell me. Answer on one simple question. How much more secrets ShinRa is hiding?"

It became silent and Vincent heard Reeve nervously browsing through the papers on the table. He was always doing that in the moment of uneasiness. Cleaning the table. Dusting already sterile furniture. Or walking around the office so fast that people were becoming nauseous.

"I do not know what you are talking about. The last military secret I've heard of was Deepground Project. May I ask why you are interested?"

"There is a person in my room, sitting on my sofa and he calls himself Vincent Valentine. On top of that, he looks like one."

"Like one what?" asked Tuesti suspiciously. It seemed he started to doubt mental stability of his friend.

"Like Vincent Valentine, of course." that came out rather in a rather annoyed intonation. "He shares my memories till the moment I got shot by Hojo, he shares my feelings, we happen to think the same things, or so I noticed…"

Reeve silenced. Vincent was nursing a little hope that his friend may know something and that the information will ease off the search for the roots of the problem.

"I am sorry, I cannot help you. I've never heard anything about cloning project within ShinRa walls. It may have been secret information but this, or the other way, it had died with corporation itself."

"Do you think Rufus may know something?" that was the last straw Vincent could grab onto. Rufus did not know anything about Deepground but he may had come across some papers or saved something after the fall of his father's empire.

"How serious are you, Vincent? Rufus had received no information about Deepground, what makes you think he could enlighten you on the subject far more secret?"

"I am on my own then." sighed Vincent and already wanted to break connection when Reeve shouted in the speaker.

"Hey Valentine! It may be connected with Hojo; he was full of dark secrets. I guess _you_, of all people, should know that! Try to search in the mansion, you may find something!"

"You are a blessing."

The phone beeped announcing that the line was disconnected and Vincent put it back in his pocket. Sometimes he was so inattentive it was amusing. All the scientific projects after Professor Gast's and his father's death were under the supervision of Hojo. Knowing Hojo Vincent could be almost entirely sure that he hid something 'for later' and never managed to come back to his researches due to well known circumstances. Reeve confirmed Vincent's suspicions over someone being busy playing around with cells and cloning devices. That was also very Hojo. However the question why he needed that and why it was exactly him who Professor decided to multiply stayed open.

The papers were flying around the room, making it look like a hurricane just passed by. Vincent did not bother to be accurate as most of the books were already damaged by the rage of Sephiroth discovering his true legacy in this very basement all those years ago. In fact, most of the books were centred on Jenova theories, several books that Vincent had found were written by his father and contained notes about Omega and Chaos. Sadly those papers were deliberately destroyed by someone. It could be Lucrecia as, after all, no one took her theories for granted. Or it could be Hojo, who hated everything that did not come out of his sick mind and had at least some genius sparkle in it.

"Come on… Come on… It must be here…" was talking Vincent to himself, while wrecking havoc on the next bookshelf. The library was huge; it will take some time to get through all the books. Even the ones that Sephiroth so kindly threw around.

"I am sorry, am I interrupting?"

The voice caught Vincent by surprise. His hand gave a tremble and the pile of books fell over. A huge book, entirely dedicated to Jenova project hit him right on the head.

…_I see the irony here…_

"Did anyone, by any chance, taught you to knock?"

"I am really sorry." young man looked rather guilty. Vincent expected him and noticed that he looked a bit better. Pink blemish was already returning to his cheeks and the eyes became clearer. He was still however walking slow and tripped a bit.

"That's fine. What did you want? I am a bit busy."

"I wanted to ask… Why did you tell your name is Vincent Valentine?"

Vincent already had returned to the bookshelves and was inspecting another set of books.

"Well, maybe because my name _is_ Vincent Valentine?"

Young man squeezed eyelids and massaged forehead.

"I do not understand… How come there can be two of us? Are we related?"

"In some way, yes." It was amusing to see poor young man trying to find the way out of the strange situation he suddenly got into. 'Other' Vincent turned around and took some book.

"The Jenova Project, Part 3…"there was a pause and then he opened the book and fastly started to browse through the pages. "Jenova, that's the Ancient they've found in the crater. That's why I've collided with Hojo… Wh-hy, why the book looks so old? What's going on?"

Vincent was listening to him all the time while slowly reorganising the notes that were scattered around the floor. What to answer? That he is nothing more then Hojo's experiment? Isn't Vincent himself one as well? And then a lonely thought crawled in his mind, like a little worm twitching inside.

…_What if I never was real? What if it is me who is nothing more then artificially grown cells_

Little shivers ran down his spine but next second Vincent shoved those doubts in the deep corner of his mind. That was impossible, Hojo tortured him for own sick pleasure. Would he do anything like that if Vincent was merely a clone of himself? Obviously not.

"I do not know what is going on myself, sorry, Vincent." He muttered under his breath and turned away again.

"But there must be logical explanation to this phenomenon!" exclaimed young man passionately and stood up. "Just be fair with me, please."

Vincent sighed and abandoned the books he was busy with. Slowly he undid buckles of his cloak and slowly put it on the nearby chair. Finally his other self got to see the face of his saviour. The person in front of him was thinner, his eyes were more of a dark red and the skin was greyish - white. But the face was reflection of that of his own. Not younger, not older, perhaps more bitter… As if he was looking in the mirror.

"The truth is…"Vincent paused and tilted head a bit, while overlooking highly astonished expression on Vince's face. "That one of us must thank Professor Hojo for his entire existence. But I do not know who."

"One of us is… is not real?" as an echo repeated young man.

"Exactly. But all that can wait, Vincent. Or can I call you Vince?"

Young man nodded, allowing the use of the shortening and dropped himself in the chair. "I don't believe it… Cloning can be possible? It is against laws of nature and…"

"Tell me, Vince, when was the last time Hojo stopped for a while to think about the laws of nature?" Vincent shifted positions to the nearby pile of books and dug into it, listing through the pages and reading the titles. Young man grunted and bowed his head.

"Fair point." He scratched the back of his head and then turned around once again. "Can I help you with anything, err … Vincent?"

"I am searching for something related to Hojo and our current situation. It would be helpful if you join in."

Without further ado Vince stood up, adjusted his bandages and took the first book from the shelf.


	4. Your Fault

Woot, I am finally here. Passed Final Fantasy Crisis Core(I was glued to it for three days) and I can say that this game is almost as good as FF VII itself. The ending made me cry so hard that, after two days, as soon as I remember the ending, I have tears rolling down. I know, I hate being sentimental looney, but I cannot change that, so screw the world :P

About the story:I have mixed feelings about this chapter but I do hope that all of you like it. If it is really poo, I will try to rewrite it then

P.S.: Did I ever took time to write a disclamer? No? Then I do it now. xP I pwn everything but sadly own nothing of the characters. They all belong to Square Enix, bastards.

* * *

**Your Fault  
**

Huge propeller blades made a sandstorm and Vincent hid his face from the wind by turning half - away. Behind him Vince bowed head a bit and squeezed eyelids together. Giant flying vehicle was making a turn and trying to land on a spot in front of the ShinRa mansion. There was not so much space but Vincent did not doubt the skills of the pilot even for a second. That man could land his bird anywhere without a single scratch.

"Who are those?" yelled Vince in his ear, making Vincent cringe in annoyance. He hated noise of any kind.

"Friends with transportation." He replied curtly and watched the airship carefully touching the ground. The ladder got opened and Vincent had prepared for the worst. The worst had come just as fast as he had predicted. A long legged colourful whirlwind ran down to the ground and stormed right at him. Vincent counted seconds and in the last moment jumped aside exposing his copy to the walking disaster named Yuffie Kisaragi.

"Heya Vince-e-e-ent, how are you? Boy you look good, you've finally took that smelly stupid cloak off and got some tan. You look just smexy like… whoa!" Yuffie finally took the time to look around and stumbled across the man whose cloak she just accused of being smelly.

"Vincent….? Eww, then who is that?" she jumped away from Vince and looked really confused. A smirk crawled on Vincent's lips when he, tasting the victory the meaning of which was known to nobody but himself, pet Yuffie's shoulder and bowed to her ear.

"Long story. His name is Vince. So go figure."

Gracefully he went up the ladder and disappeared in the darkness within "The Shera", leaving one overly confused Wutai ninja and one stunned young Turk standing together near the gates that were leading inside the wild garden that was surrounding Vincent's 'home'. Yuffie kept hitting dirt with her heels looking extremely drawn back, however one naughty eye was constantly peaking through the hair that now fell on her forehead. Vince, in his turn, blushed a bit liked a girl and jerked the collar of his relatively white shirt.

"Nice to meet you, miss…"

"I am Yuffie, drop that 'miss'." she straightened herself and crossed hands on chest. "And you being…"

"Vincent Valentine."

"Not funny."

"It wasn't a joke."

Yuffie started to circle around Vince like she was choosing a new Chocobo on the market.

"We already have one Vincent Valentine. He was that that gloomy dude that went inside."

A slight deal of annoyance appeared on Vince's face, magically transforming it into that one of 'gloomy dude.' He narrowed eyes and jerked head a little bit to the side, while crossing hands on his chest as well.

"My name _is_ Vincent Valentine, I think I might know that just a tad better then you do, being born and all that. However, to avoid misunderstandings you are suggested to call me Vince. Further information is…"

".. confidential property of ShinRa Electric – Power Company." Finished Yuffie in the same annoyed tone, obviously mocking the person in front of her. "I smell Turk." She finished with a squeaky singing voice.

"No wonder Vincent jumped away like there was one of seven plagues coming his way…" muttered Vince under his breath. Yuffie, being herself, did not even hear it. The argument was ended right in time.

"Inside."

As always Vincent appeared out of nowhere and pointed in the direction of the airship. Yuffie cringed like a little child who has been told not to make a mess in the sandbox and marched up the ladder spreading the waves of eternal anger around her.

Vince adjusted his tie and pulled a difficult face.

"She is also your… friend?"

"So happens." Was the dull reply. "You come to like her… In a while."

"Reassuring…"

"Obviously."

The constructive dialogue ended as suddenly as it started and both Vincents made their way across the yard and into the vehicle in total silence. However inside the tension eased off and Vince started to look around. He always had a soft spot for technology and the place looked absolutely marvellous. The meeting hall made him absolutely speechless and Vince just kept staring at the ceiling that was changing landscapes seemingly all by itself.

"Who created this wonder of mechanics?" he addressed seemingly to no - one as Vincent had already disappeared in unknown direction.

"This boy is speaking my language."

Vince turned around nervously just to face stocky looking guy with short blond hair and dressed in sort of combined military outfit of the model young Turk had not seen before. The man had that atmosphere around him that was clearly telling people that he is the one who makes this ship fly.

"I am sorry. So you are the captain?"

"Right you are, sport. Cid Highwind's the name." he was beaming with pride and joy. "'The Shera' is my ever beloved princess of the skies. Beauty, isn't she?"

Vince smiled bright and carefully stroked nearby metal panel that was calmly glimmering with different colours. It was warm, almost like he was touching a human being.

"It sure is. But the construction is unknown to me. Is it not ShinRa?"

The utter horror was seen on Cid's face. He had even stepped back a bit.

"ShinRa? How dare you? Damn electricians could not possibly produce anything so gorgeous, could they?"

Vince silenced. Angry outburst of the pilot in the direction of ShinRa Manufacturing left him confused. ShinRa's hated? Now he remembered Yuffie's teasing when she immediately identified him as Turk. She said 'ShinRa Electric – Power Company' with a clear disdain in her voice. Could something happen during those years that damaged the reputation of the company so much?

"… couldn't! This baby is the technology of Ancients, mind you."

Vince woke up from his thoughts and stared at Cid in a high rate of disbelief.

"Seriously? How did you come in possession of it?"

Cid's light blue eyes became dreamy as he dived in the memories of that fabulous day.

"Forgotten Capital hides many secrets. Archaeologists from Cosmo Canyon had stumbled across the references about well hidden hangars somewhere beneath The City of Ancients. A little dig there, a tiny planning here and we have a marvel of marvels in our own possession."

Young man rubbed his forehead.

"I cannot believe that so much had happened… No - one before managed to get through to Forgotten Capital… radars could not see it, nor could the ground vehicles."

"It is no secret since the Jenova War had ended."

Vince got pale as a ghost.

"There was… Jenova War… Jenova?"

"Cid, enough."

Vincent Valentine dived out of the shadows and made Highwind to step back a little.

"I thought I asked you to be extremely precautious while talking with him."

"My bad, Vincent. Got carried away here. Not every day you meet a person that is actually interested in what is going on around here."

"Apology is accepted. Next time, watch your big mouth."

Cid was already leaving when the last words reached his ears. Being a bossy person meant that he would not allow anyone to show the attitude in his presence and stay unnoticed or not abused. He turned around on his heels and dashed towards the gunslider.

"Well really? Screw you then! I can choose myself what and when I can say. Like right now I choose to say that I think it's your ass being guilty the Jenova War had ever taken the place. Eat that, freak'o!"

And he marched out boiling from anger. Vincent closed his eyes for a second and sighed. He should have known better then start an argument with Cid. Did it ever end well?

"Let's pretend you did not hear it."

"What is The Jenova War?"

Those two sentences came out at the same time making both of them silence for a moment and look straight on each other. Vince's face was white from shock and his lips trembled nervously. Vincent looked as dark as a storm cloud and was clutching hands in fists.

"We really can talk about it some time later." he squeezed out drilling with eyes the imaginary holes in the door Cid went through.

"I want to know _now_."

Another battle that Vincent could not possibly win. He knew himself too well and knew he won't back up until he gets an answer. That was more then just frustrating. The plan he so carefully developed during the days was steadily crushing in front of his eyes.

"The Jenova War was a result of Sephiroth discovering his true origins in Nibelheim Mako Reactor quite some time ago. I hope that had satisfied your needs for now."

Vince watched him leaving and stood still staring at the ceiling that was now reflecting the clear sky with peaceful white and fluffy clouds. The tears stood in his eyes and finally rolled down his cheeks glittering like little diamonds. All those tiny hints that he kept getting since Vincent helped him on the doorstep of ShinRa Mansion finally merged together in one big revelation.

"…What have I done…"


	5. Yuffie's Wanderings

Boo yah! I've updated!I hope this chapter is interesting, I tried to do some insights on people from one certain POV :P I drew a concept for this ficcie but it looks too lame to show .; And now I will go and play a bit with PSP because I am too lazy to do my homework .;

Scotty, beam me up!

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**Yuffie's Wanderings  
**

The airship was flying already for quite some time and by Yuffie's estimations they would probably soon reach Edge. The sooner, the better. She really hated flying but being hired by WRO would not leave much of a choice. On the top of that her peaceful mourning in the corner was disturbed by Vincent Valentine, who stormed through the doors and marched over to the place where Cid was standing. Yuffie could feel the waves of anger around him; however Cid did not even allow Vincent to open mouth and immediately shot out all what he thinks about the gunslider, his parents, planet crisis and Sephiroth. Vincent was replying in short phrases that seemed to make Highwind even more furious. Yuffie knew for sure that deep down Cid was full of envy of how Valentine could handle most of the situations without even moving a muscle. From the whole yelling Kisaragi understood only one thing: Cid said something he should have not mentioned to the "other" Vincent. Quietly she crawled on her feet and left the cockpit. 'The Shera' was a giant ship with so many compartments Yuffie still did not manage to uncover them all. She wandered around a bit and seemingly random poked her nose behind one of the doors. The lights were a bit dim however her eyes, trained on the watch during sleepless nights in Wutai immediately saw a figure sitting in the furthest corner of the room. Further squinting revealed figure to be male. Little clicking noises she had heard earlier were coming from a gun person was cleaning. Yuffie carefully knocked on the doorway and hissed from pain when metal hurt her knuckle. She had never really got used to the amount of metal people used outside Wutai. Her own nation preferred wood and stone.

"Hey, hi. Can I come in?"

Male raised head and Yuffie stared in two clear crimson eyes. Too clear to be true, like the person was crying not so long ago. Yuffie waved that silly thought away. Guys don't cry, that is just ridiculous.

"Oh! It's you…"she pondered for a second whether to leave Vince be but walking around 'The Shera' seemed rather pointless and returning back would be her personal suicide as Cid created new word for 'being infuriated.' "So… What are you doing?" she came closer and tilted head a bit.

Vince looked at her absentmindedly and blinked several times, obviously trying to snap out of whatever he was thinking about.

"Huh? This? I am cleaning the gun."

"Is it yours?"

"No, all my guns were the property of ShinRa Manufacturing so I could not take any with me when I left… in a hurry."

Yuffie finally took the decision to settle down and dropped herself in the chair near young Turk. She attentively watched how he fastly and skilfully switched and twitched small details of the gun, polishing them with oil hanky and carefully putting back. Yuffie saw Vincent doing it multiple times but for some reason watching Vince doing it was kind of different. It was this relaxing and calm atmosphere around him that 'other' Valentine drastically lacked. Vincent's calmness had it roots in emotionless coldness and isolation from the society. Knowing his backgrounds the Ninja could not really blame him. However knowledge did not make it easier to sit near Vincent Valentine and not feeling that you are freezing to death.

"So… can you wield a sword?"

Vince sniffed and threw hair backwards, so it would not shield the view and distract him from work.

"A bit. I mostly specialize in guns and hand to hand combat. Job requires doing so. And swords… Well, that we leave to elite ShinRa forces."

Yuffie's face sparkled with joy and she jumped up.

"Hey, what about a sparring, uh? I'll give you some bonus time!"

Vince looked up again and suddenly laughed. Young Ninja chocked with her own words out of amusement. As much as she decided to regard both Valentines as something separate they were still merging in one in her head and, frankly speaking, she had never heard Vincent laughing. Usually the quiet sniff and cracked line of lips meant that he was really amused by something. All the other cases meant a stoned face expression.

"A bonus time, uh? I see by your outfit you are from Wutai… Am I right?"

Yuffie shook head getting rid of all the thoughts that suddenly decided to get alive and give her brains some work and proudly hit the floor with her heels.

"Yep, that's me all right. Princess of Wutai and the best martial art fighter out there. Wanna autograph?"

"I think I'll pass." He smiled again and put the gun aside. "The ship is slowing down; I think we might have arrived… err… Where exactly?"

Yuffie giggled and made a little hop of joy, not knowing exactly why she did so.

"Edge, that's the city that got built on the outskirts of Midgar, once it got destroyed by the Meteor."

"Huh? Meteor? How in the name of Gaia…" started Vince but then shook his head sadly and put the oiled hanky away, while trying to dry his hand with the towel he dragged out of somewhere. "Wait, I do not want to know. Not yet at least. Just tell me… Is the Meteor somehow connected to Sephiroth?"

Yuffie caught well masked bitterness in his voice and pretended that she did not hear it. Something was telling her that she better avoid the subject from now on.

"Err… I do not really know. I was sixteen then and very stupid… So yeah, I have no clue."

Obviously Vince did not believe her but he seemingly appreciated the delicacy on the subject Yuffie had shown.

Together they left the compartment and made their way to the hall near the ladder while the vehicle was slowly twirling around the landing pad. Vincent, as usually, dived out of the darkest corner there was and joined the growing crew of people wishing to get their feet on the solid land.

"Where are we going to stay?" the question was thrown in the air as if Vincent did not care if anyone catches it.

"With Cloud and Tifa." replied Yuffie and smiled to her thoughts. "Sadly they are not doing so well, business – wise, since Edge is still pretty deserted."

Valentine moved his head a bit and curled up one eyebrow.

"Really? I though WRO is working hard in convincing people to return."

Yuffie chocked angrily and waved with finger in front of Vincent's nose.

"We are doing our best, smarty – pants. But they fear to return to Edge after Deepground incident. Most of citizens were killed anyway…"

Vince, who was listening carefully, jerked his head in the direction of conversation.

"Deepground?"

Vincent gave him pet on the shoulder. "Nothing of your concern, it came after your time."

"Well yes, thank you for the unnecessary clarification." replied Vince curtly and turned away again.

Yuffie stared with wide eyes at both of them and then leapt towards the gunslider in red cape, who again decided to retreat in the darkest space of the room for probable over - thinking of his life.

"He doesn't like you?"

Vincent opened eyes and checked the ceiling like the answer could be written there.

"Apparently not. Getting along with yourself suddenly gets whole new meaning…"

"Must be difficult. Cannot imagine what I would do if I met myself and had to stick her along for a ride…"

A loud sniff and slight curl of the lips meant that Vincent was about to crack a joke. His jokes were of specific moody nature that untrained person would take offence over.

"Then living in the monastery would be closer then you think."

Yuffie put sour face and stepped away. The floor made last tremble and the mechanism of ladder made a gentle screech announcing the end of the journey.

Edge met people with heavy clouds and annoying drizzly rain. Late autumn in Gaia wasn't by any means pleasant season.

The brave Ninja Princess of Wutai made high – pitch squeak when Vincent poked her outside in the rain as she was supposed to lead the way. Cold rain drops rolled behind her collar which filled the air with several more dramatic exclamations. Vince fastly unbuttoned his jacket and threw it over Yuffie's head.

"Here, it will protect you from the rain for a while if you go fast enough." He said and jumped off the ladder on the pavement. The rain immediately soaked his clothing wet making it tight around his slim and well – shaped body. Yuffie got slightly red, turned away and waved to Vincent, who was still standing on the ladder.

"Headquarters are this way. Let's hurry, Reeve phoned and said he is waiting."


	6. Pushing The Buttons

Whoah, Writer's Block is knocking on my door which may affect the quality of this chapter. And the chapter before... So feel free to boo me. Next week I am sitting without Internet (or so it seems) so if anyone really hates the chapter I will gladly hear your suggestions and try to rewrite it to a better quality, if needed. A very big thanks for those who review, that gives me a hell of motivation and means a lot to me(even though not much people review but still! :) ) Cookies to everyone!

**A/N: **Vincent finally seems to show some human emotions. I thought he would never do that . :P Oh yeah, Disclamer: Damn you, SE for not allowing me to own anything!(pouts)

* * *

**Pushing The Buttons**

Making puddles on the sterile floor they marched through the huge hallway separated in several levels. Vincent noticed that not all the marks of the last Deepground visit were cleaned and masked and much work had to be done. That was giving Reeve some credit; he persistently kept rebuilding WRO headquarters while the building kept being destroyed with the same sort of determination from the side of their foes.

"… And that sponsor again gave us huge amount of money to rebuild the organisation. Reeve pretends he does not know, but seriously, I am not dumb… it is Rufus ShinRa!" Yuffie's voice crawled under the safety bubble Vincent usually was building around himself. He threw wet hair behind the shoulders and turned to Yuffie.

"Rufus ShinRa, uh?"

Happy that she was finally not the only one to talk the girl poked soaked wet jacket in the hands of its owner and smiled bright. Endless optimism was the thing Vincent admired in the young Ninja most. Even though he, himself, usually was getting tired of her in a matter of seconds but the girl was a beam of sunlight in the endless stormy skies.

"Yeah! So I and Cloud were sitting one day, talking about WRO and then he says that it may be Rufus ShinRa who gives us money. And then I, like, no way, Cloud! He was dead, wasn't he? And then Cloud…"

"Yuffie, to the point." squeezed out Vincent and gave one of his lethal stares, which Kisaragi did not notice. But she indeed cut her story drastically.

"Well, and Cloud said that Rufus said to him that 'ShinRa owes planet a lot.' Get the drift? And that guy is filthy rich, sitting on his daddy's money. Moreover…"

"Yuffie…"

"… Turks were spotted in Edge not so long and for several times. They are sniffing around for something and we searched for them but they know how to hide he tracks. I saw Tseng and Reno and…"

Vincent rolled eyes and covered her mouth with hand. She squeaked out of surprise and stopped. The gunslider waited a bit, counted to ten and released her.

"I got the main point. Now would you kindly open the door?"

They were now standing in front of the door that was, presumably, leading to director's quarters. The door required an authorized pass that Yuffie was supposed to have. She started to search around the pockets and as the seconds were passing by more and more panic expression was crawling on her face. Vince meekly suggested to help in searching and got snapped at in misunderstanding as Yuffie decided he wanted to search her. Vincent stood aside and watched the whole comedy club with a patient face expression of the God almighty. Finally he got tired and reached to his mobile phone. Waited a bit more in hope Yuffie will find her pass in her underwear (to Vince's horror, who could not understand why must anybody keep their pass there) and finally dialled the number.

"Reeve, open the door, Yuffie lost her ID."

There was a dramatic sight on the other side of the line.

"That is third in two weeks…"

"You may try rethinking your ID system in the light of such…"

"No, Yuffie, are you insane?!"

"Turn away!"

"You are in the middle of the complex…!"

Vincent turned around and added a tad bit of insistence in his voice.

"Open the door, Reeve."

"What is going on there anyway?"

"You do not want to know, now…"

The sentence was left unfinished as the gently beeping announced that director Tuesti finally took his time and activated the door mechanism. The brawl behind Vincent's back immediately stopped and Yuffie, like nothing happened, took the lead.

Reeve's office was very spacey and rather empty. There were almost no personal belongings apart from several pictures standing on the shelves and embroidery of small violet flowers hanging on the wall. Vincent knew that Tuesti's mother died in the Meteorfall and that he never truly reconciled with that especially since he never had too much time for her, being the head of Urban Development back then. The next comment just proved Vincent's suspicions about the matter. Yuffie also noticed cute and absolutely unsuitable part of the interior and immediately fired the question.

"Oh… Pretty! Where did you get it?"

Reeve looked up from his papers and smiled.

"That belonged to my mother." He stood up and walked round the table to greet his guests.

"And you must be _that _Vincent Valentine…"he shook Vince's hand and smiled politely. "Particular indeed."

He turned to Vincent now and his face became concentrated.

"So, did you find anything in mansion? Well, I guess you did, otherwise you would not be here."

Vincent nodded slowly and dug in one of his back - pockets. Moment later he took out a little piece of yellowish paper, unfolded it and without further ado he passed paper to Reeve. Director of WRO attentively looked at it, turned several times in his hand and looked rather puzzled back at Vincent.

"What makes you think this is the key to your problem?"

Vincent came closer and took a look at the paper once more.

"Well, it is obviously looks like Hojo's handwriting and I could not connect it to any projects of his that surfaced during recent years."

Yuffie, who was, frankly speaking, getting rather bored jumped in and tried to read the note from behind Reeve's shoulder. Her attempts had miserably failed as her boss was much taller and broader.

"What it says?!"

"Erm… Three to five, division seven, sixty - nine… Those are nothing but random numbers to me, Vincent."

Valentine closed eyes for a second and played with folds of his cloak.

"Those are not random numbers. I think it may be the order of boxes, shelves… Sixty – nine sounds like a number of the floor."

"Now that you mention it…" muttered Reeve, hypnotizing the paper in his hands. "It may refer to old ShinRa building in Midgar."

"As I suspected. However, if I recall, the Diamond Weapon hit the building exactly in that area. There is probably nothing left."

"We still can go and check…" said Yuffie from under Reeve's elbow.

"Miss Kisaragi, that is not a bad idea on your behalf." Tuesti folded the paper and returned it to Vincent. "I suggest you rest today and tomorrow take off to Midgar. Meanwhile I will contact some people in case you find nothing."

They left the office and took the elevator down to the first floor. Vince, who stayed silent the whole time finally decided to show the signs of life. He brushed creases from his suit and adjusted tie.

"Why did you come all the way here if you knew the note speaks of the ShinRa building?"

Vincent smirked to his own thought and looked at Vince.

"For the purpose of pushing some buttons."

Yuffie distracted herself from watching people through the glass walls of elevator and stared at Vincent.

"I don't get it…"

"Well, Yuffie, you have something to think about for a while."

She immediately took offence and turned away, returning to her previous occupation. Vince bowed even closer and now was almost whispering in Vincent's ear.

"Explain it at least to me."

"Boy, use your brains. We both know Hojo, he is not a fool by any means." Whispered Vincent back, while staring into the air and seemingly counting Chocobos. "Recent events proved it once more. He knew how to hide the information and it may take us eternity to find the core of the problem. That's why the activation of additional info - chains would come in handy." Vincent paused and smirked mysteriously. "Only the chains do not know that it was _me_ who decided."

Yuffie, who obviously was eavesdropping, looked quite suspicious.

"Since what time you are so manipulative? You sound like one of those cheap evil masterminds..."

Vincent patiently listened to her like a father to a little curious child.

"Scratch that 'evil' word insignificant wench, I'll go with the other two. Cheap mastermind... Sounds good to me."

Vince smirked and turned away teying to choke the laugh that was bursting out.

"Vincent!! I am serious!"

Vince, who was already snorting from uncontrollable laugh for good three minutes finally gave up and laughed out loud, making Yuffie jump from fear and Vincent, in his turn hid the face in the collar of his cloak. He was smiling. There was, however, a tiny though in the back of his mind that was drilling his brains in annoying nudging sort of way.

_...This peace is not for long, something is coming, he can feel it..._


	7. Seventh Heaven

Oh jeez, I've updated. Please forgive me if I made you waiting too long. Writer's Block with a nice mixture of being away from Internet land for a while did not do me good. I had the plan for this chapter for long, but words just did not come out . TT As usual, feel free to complain if the chapter is poo but do not forget to say why :P Cookies to all the reviewers and while I remember, on the note of beta - reader: As soon as my mistakes get really really horrible and not plausable I will get a beta, I swear.

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**Seventh Heaven**

The storm completely covered The City of Edge when Yuffie and both her companions entered the cosy and warm place by the name of "Seventh Heaven." It was quite some time since Vincent set his foot in here but the bar did not change a single bit. The same softly dimmed lights and the same old sound of glasses being carefully washed under the low warm water.

"Yo Tifa!" exclaimed Yuffie and made her way to the bar. "I brought all Vincents. Man, I am so tired… Do you have anything warm to drink?"

"Hi Yuffie… Yes, suit yourself, as always." Tifa left her place, put away the towel she was holding and smiled softly while approaching the guests who were still standing on the same spot. Vincent was bathing in the shadows and the second guy was curling up his lips in a smile and obviously felt a bit uncomfortable.

"You must be…" she started peaking behind young man's back on his companion. She wanted to be polite but the situation quite amused her in unpleasant way. The ghosts of the past seemed never wanted go away. As soon as she though they set the score something was always surfacing once again.

"Vincent Valentine." Answered young man and gently shook her hand. His touch was light and strong at the same time showing that the person had compassion as well as persistance he would show when it would be necessary. "And you are, miss…"

"Tifa." It came out a bit stiff and she immediately felt guilty for it. After all, this Vincent meant no harm and whatever had happened probably was not his fault. "Forgive me for my curtness. I am just a bit worried over… this and that."

Vincent Valentine, who was quiet all the time, dived out of the dark corner he was standing in and marched towards Tifa.

"What is wrong?"

The young woman smiled a bit brighter, probably happy to be talking with a familiar face again, but her eyes stayed sad.

"I am worried about Cloud. He phoned and said he stucked somewhere in the middle of nowhere due to heavy flood in the area."

Vincent sniffed a bit impatiently and stroked Tifa's shoulder in a reassuring manner.

"He'll be all right. Cloud is a grownup man; he can take care of himself."

"Not with all that going on through his head right now." added Tifa and nervously curled her fingers in fists. "Lately he is not quite himself anymore…"

She looked around and noticed three pair of eyes attentively watching her and Yuffie even straightened herself up and bowed a bit forward to hear better. The girl was a walking sponge for all the information floating around her, however only rumours were filtered and stored safely inside her mind. Tifa released a sight and threw strands of hair out of her forehead.

"All this can wait. Are you hungry?"

Yuffie was the first to raise her hand and Vince also shyly poked one finger in the air. Tifa smirked understandingly and made her way in the back of the bar to a small kitchen. Brave Ninja of Wutai, who was quite for some while fighting rumbles in her stomach, glued herself to young woman. Perhaps she wanted to nick something from the fridge or genuinely decided to help. With Yuffie you could not know for sure. Vincent, meanwhile, found a little table near one of the windows and settled down. Vince followed him shortly after observing the interior.

"How do you know all those people? I mean… You three are so different and yet you are… friends?" asked Vince carefully. His vivid mind was always in motion and unlike Vincent he was always eager to ask questions. Maybe that's why he used to be such a good Turk. Once. Vincent distracted himself from own gloomy thoughts and traced a raindrop on the window with a clawed finger. The glass made a poor squeak.

"The ways of fate are difficult to foresee. We all met during Jenova War. There are more of us out there, who you may or may not encounter later on. However there is one person that connects us all. He is not here right now but he got mentioned today several times."

Vince lowered eyelashes and pondered for a second. This was obviously a little challenge Vincent threw his way. The dialogues of today were flying through his mind while brains were carefully searching for flaws and breaches in the conversations he had heard.

…_With Cloud and Tifa…_

…_I and Cloud were sitting one day, talking about WRO…_

…_I am a bit worried about Cloud…_

"Someone named Cloud?" he tried carefully while watching Vincent from the corner of his eyes. The gunslider left the raindrops be and looked quite satisfied.

"You are sharp. It is… good to know." Vincent said mildly and ran fingers down the wood pattern of the table. "That boy's name is Cloud Strife. Quite noisy person and with a lot of bugs in his head. He woke me up from my thirty years slumber in the basement of ShinRa mansion. And he was searching for Sephiroth."

Vince slowly shook his head.

"Sephiroth again, uh?"

"Like I said, Sephiroth was a core of Jenova War. I went with Cloud but for the sole purpose of finding Hojo."

Young Turk silenced for a bit and looked straight in Vincent's eyes once again. His stare seemed to crawl behind Vincent's mental barriers and look straight inside his soul. His father used to have exact same gaze. Careful, attentive and demanding.

_What could I become __if not for what had happened? Would I be just like my father?_

"It was Hojo who made you what you are, it is obvious. What did he do to you?"

Vincent cringed as he though about those times he spent in Hojo's laboratory after Lucrecia abandoned him. His memories of those times were shattered and he remembered sometimes waking up, feeling horrible pain and fainting again. Sometimes he was transforming… And there was always Hojo laugh. Coming from everywhere and going nowhere.

"I can shape - shift. And, possibly, cannot die. But that's about all I know of what has been done to me. And I think it is for the best that I know no more. The punishment is harsh enough already. "

Vince wanted to ask something more but silenced when he heard footsteps and the sound of dishes being carried on the tray. The majestic smell of roasted meat tickled his nostrils and the Turk forgot what he wanted to say. Tifa finally arrived on their table and put four plates down.

"Mind me joining you?" she asked cheerfully and took place near Vincent. Valentine checked out the portion in front of him and raised one eyebrow.

"I cannot quite recall asking for a meal."

"I know you, Vincent. You better die then ask something and warm home – made food even you cannot resist, can you?"

"Ditto, Vinnie, eat. It is roasted Green Chocobo with potatoes and greens. They are the best." Yuffie dropped herself down near Vince making him jump up a bit and move closer to the window. Princess of Wutai liked to sit with comfort and being pretty skinny she managed to occupy quite some place.

"Tifa, it is quiet around here, where are the kids?" asked Vincent while sadly poking fork in different places of his Chocobo chop.

"After what had happened in Edge Barret, Cloud and I decided to send them somewhere away, to a more quiet place. Besides both Marlene and Denzel have to go to school… They are with Shera, in Rocket Town."

"It is indeed a pretty place. But kinda boring, without The Rocket and all that stuff…"muffled Yuffie with her mouth full. "Wutai is the best, obviously, and we could do with some money… Stupid war. Still, sheesh…"

Nobody replied on her ramblings and the girl meekly started to eat her food. Now and then a little conversation was erupting between Vincent and Tifa, the meaning of which Vince could not understand. Time after time Yuffie was asking about WRO and blaming Vincent for being too passive and not willing to help. The gunslider was excusing himself with being uninterested and reminded Yuffie about his input in destroying Deepground Elite Forces. Soon Chocobo was finished and female part of the company was steadily yawning. Tifa cleaned the dishes and glasses and volunteered to show both Valentines their rooms. "Seventh Heaven" was not a very big place but right now it was totally empty and there was no problem in finding separate rooms for rare guests. Finally she wished two men goodnight, informed that tomorrow they must not leave before breakfast and went away.

"So what exactly is our goal for tomorrow?" asked Vince with a tired voice while standing in the doorway of his room and slowly undoing his tie. Vincent pushed the door to his place open and turned around.

"Nothing overly difficult. We go to Midgar, we find ShinRa building, we search for some documents or clues in connection with our current situation and we go back to Reeve."

"You make it sound like a casual trip."

"I am trying to stay optimistic…"

"And now you make me worried, Vincent."

"Goodnight to you too."

He closed the door and made his way to the window. The smell of rain and sounds of storm flew in the room and filled its still atmosphere with life. Vincent gazed into the night and inhaled deeply. It was his favourite time when everything lay still and it was only him and the world. Times like this he was spending near Lucrecia's crystal coffin, looking at the lights playing in beautiful stones and thinking about nothing in particular…

He reached out of the window to the rain and then something happened. Vincent heard a horrible scream inside his head. It made him moan and drop to his knees scratching the floor with his fingers. Chaos kept screaming and twitching inside his body, making Vincent bite in his tongue hoping he will not yell out loud, he did not want people to come especially since he lied to them saying that Chaos inside his body was no more after Omega returned to the planet. But it did lay dormant, only sometimes raising its head and whispering inside his host's mind while he was relaxed. Another scream and another flash of pain that made him blind for a second. Something warm rolled down Vincent's cheeks. For a second he thought those were tears but the liquid left a metallic taste in his mouth when Valentine licked it of his lips. Blood. He was crying with blood. Last roar and the creature abruptly silenced, making Vincent fall on the floor and tremble from pain and shock while blood was still running from his eyes and leaked from corner of his mouth.

_Something is coming and Chaos can feel it__. And it is really scared._

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**A/N.: **Woo... I think I am finally getting somewhere. Don't people just love make Vincent suffer? I know I do. :P


	8. More Questions, No Answers

Whoah, the biggest chapter ever. I was writing it the whole day, not that it means anything but I am just informing. I should have been studying my Dutch but alas, the world of fanfiction called... :D I am still offereng cookies for reviews, they are VERY tasty, don't make me throw them out! Enjoy the chapter, author, actually, is quite happy with it XD And it was horribly warm today, I might lost braincell or two, witch is pretty much seen in the beginning of the chapter XD

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**More Questions, No Answers**

The sky was already colouring itself in the shades of pink when Vincent finally fell asleep. Normally he was always trying to stay awake as when in slumber, his body and mind relaxed, the nightmares were coming back. He was then waking up from his own screams, blessing that there was no – one who could have overheard him. But Chaos' outburst made Vincent very weak and upcoming trip to Midgar could be not as easy as he was trying to convince himself and his companions.

It seemed only five minutes passed when a lot of noise on the other side of the hallway made Vincent slowly open his eyes and focus stare on the nearby wall. Carefully he stood up and walked to the door. Then, with a second though about what he might see there, Vincent pushed the door handle. Of course, there was Yuffie. And of course she was making the entire riot. Vincent shook his head sadly and cleared his throat.

"What is going on?"

Yuffie jumped up a bit from surprise and turned around, opening a view of Vince's bedroom door being wide open and Valentine himself covering with towel. Young man was red as a tomato and rather angry.

"Did not your parents teach you to knock, by any chance?!"

"Well… No! I mean… Yes! But who ever sleeps naked?!"

Vincent widened his eyes in surprise and poked head even further in the hallway.

"_You sleep naked?_"

Vince bit his lip angrily and squeezed the towel even more in his hands.

"In the name of Gaia! _You_ are asking me this question, Vincent? Like you, of all the people don't know it?!"

Yuffie's cheeks lightened up with happy blemish. She now faced Vincent and represented the eternal innocence and purity of a child.

"That gets interesting… Do you, Vincent Valentine, sleep naked?"

There was a pause and the hallway got filled with buzzing silence. Yuffie waited. Vincent pondered for three seconds more and finally brought out.

"In fact… I do. I am so naked right now…"

Yuffie's eyes widened in shock.

"…under this usual suit of mine." finished Vincent with the same monotonous and uninterested tone while coming out of the room and putting cloak on.

"But…" tried Yuffie in a disappointed tone. " But Vince…"

"Does not sleep naked, trust _me_, on that." Before Yuffie would start another debate Vincent tapped impatiently with his foot and gave Yuffie one of those, like she, herself called them, 'stares of doom.' "Quit this nonsense and go downstairs. We have a trip to Midgar waiting."

Ninja whimpered quietly and ran down the stairs. Vincent, sweeping majestically the floor of the hallway with his cape, marched towards Vince's room and stopped in the doorway. Overlooked the person in front of him. And smirked.

"So, do you really happen to…"

Vince, who already managed to calm down, dropped the towel and went to a nearby chair.

"As you can see – no."

"Good. I expect you at the table in five minutes."

"Yes… sir."

Vincent left. Vince slowly started to get dressed. This night was not a pleasant one and by the look of Vincent, dark shadows under eyes and overly unhealthy look, his companion did not have a peaceful time either. Vince remembered his nightmares. It was some sort of building… And four capsules. One of them was empty and broken… The others… He wasted most of the night trying to 'look' behind the glass and see what was there but everything was in vane. Sure he saw such stuff before; being Turk was about seeing lots of weird things and know how to silence about it. However this particular dream made him scared and Vince did not know why. He assumed it may be because of Hojo. That room reminded him of the laboratory and Hojo practically lived in laboratories. And, in the end, Hojo was the reason Vince was here now. While it was poor explanation of what the dream really meant it was enough to create a delusion that nothing was wrong. At least for a short while. And maybe then the explanation will come, even though Vince wished it won't. Finally ready, he gently closed the door and almost decided to go downstairs when something in the back of his mind nudged Vince to take a look in the room Vincent Valentine occupied last night. The door creaked when young Turk opened it and he carefully, like a shadow slipped in. Everything seemed perfectly fine but the annoying nudge did not want to go away. Vince dropped on his knees and shoved up the blankets on the bed, which gave him an opportunity to look in the narrow space under it. There was something lying in the furthest dark corner possible. Turk lay flat on the floor and reached out. His fingers touched something soft that felt like a handkerchief. After several unsuccessful tries Vince finally dragged it out and managed to take a look on the object in the daylight. It was a piece of bedspread, or maybe a thin towel covered in something brown.

"Huh… Blood…" muttered Valentine and looked around the room again. The hanky was rather big, there had to be a lot of blood, however the floor was perfectly clean.

"There was no struggle." He continued talking to himself. "But here… Are those traces of claws?" Vince crouched and stroked five long and deep cuts in the wooden floor. "There is only one trace… Those are Vincent's. What the hell… was he doing here?"

Somebody was coming upstairs, Vince fastly hid hanky in one of his pockets and stormed out of the room. He was just in time; Tifa stepped in the hallway and smiled friendly when she saw Vince standing near the window overlooking grey landscape of Edge.

"Are you ok? It took you so long…"

"Yeah… yes, I am fine, thank you, Tifa. I was just looking out of the window and the view kind of caught my eye. Long time since I was in any industrial city."

Tifa smiled again and joined Vincent near the window.

"You should have seen Midgar… This… This hardly can be called 'industrial'. As much as everyone hated Midgar… You cannot neglect it was the pearl in the crown of Gaia industrialisation."

Vince shifted pose and peaked at Tifa from the corner of his eyes. Nice girl, she reminded him of Lucrecia a lot, however unlike Dr. Crescent she had the inner strength and will she would show when needed. Lucrecia… She did not and now he has to witness the consequences of big chain of mistakes.

"I did visit Midgar once or twice. It was a beautiful spacey city back then. Three sectors and the Slums, the shame of ShinRa Manufacturing."

Tifa threw hair backwards and her little earrings glittered in the shine of weak autumn sun.

"Huh? ShinRa was ashamed of Slums? Not that I am really surprised or anything…"

"Slums were for poor people with no past and no future. And ShinRa was hoping to bring wealth and prosperity to everyone who needed it."

"Is it the same ShinRa we are talking about here?" asked Tifa sarcastically and cracked knuckles slowly. Vince silenced and bowed head making dark strands fall on his forehead and shielding his face.

"No, apparently not. Maybe even back then it was nothing but my own narrow - mindness. I really believed in ShinRa and its ways. Until…"

Tifa, who now felt sorry for Vince and wanted to end conversation choked in own words and looked at him once again.

"Until?"

Young Turk produced a laugh that sounded more like a moan.

"Well, the same old stuff you had probably heard many times before. Until Hojo came. It is then when I first started to doubt whether my loyalties are where they really must be. Breeding an Ancient and preserving the dying race is a good deed but with what cost…"

Tifa finally took courage, put hand at Vince's shoulder and squeezed it a bit in reassuring way.

"Please stop… I know the rest of the story, don't you torture yourself." She took his hand and lead downstairs, to the bar. Young man followed without single word but he looked really miserable. They made their way to the furthest corner of the room where Vincent, Yuffie and an unknown guy were sitting. Newcomer had hay - coloured hair that was poking in every direction, gentle, almost female face and attentive bright blue eyes that seemed to be glowing like two lanterns. Tifa sat Vince down and bowed to him.

"Do you want anything to eat?"

"Yes, anything you can spare, Tifa." answered Turk absentmindedly and, with a spark interest, kept watching the person in front of him.

"Hey Vince, nice to see you so full of life and cheerful." stated Yuffie while drinking cold juice and gazing out of the window. "See the spike - head in front of you? That's our man, Cloud Strife."

Vince stood up a bit and reached out to shake hands.

"Vincent Valentine."

Cloud smiled curtly and accepted the offered handshake. His grip was firm and a bit nervous as he dug his fingers into Vince's palm.

"I've guessed."

Tifa came back from the kitchen carrying a plate with sandwiches and a drink. She put it in the middle of the table, dried her hands and critically overlooked Cloud.

"With all do respect, but is that so necessary to sit at table a second after you climbed off your bike, Cloud? What's that smell anyway?"

Cloud got slightly red and became a tad more restless.

"Err… I had to spend a night on the abandoned Chocobo farm…"

"You _what_?!" Yuffie gulped mouthful of juice and now desperately was trying not to make it stream from her nose. She finally managed to swallow and burst into jingling laughter that filled the room. "Am I the only one that see the huge irony here?!" she finally squeezed out.

Tifa also produced a soft giggle while Vincent hid his face in the collar of his cloak, presumably grinning.

"I had no choice! It was raining and I could not drive in such mess… Hey, I am serious!"

Tifa playfully slapped him against his head.

"Did you at least deliver the package, smarty - pants?"

"Naturally." Said Cloud a bit defensive. "Did you even doubt? Tifa, you amuse me, you never…"

The girl stopped smiling and jerked hand back.

"Cloud, not here. Eat your breakfast." She walked away to the kitchen and soon a sound of streaming water was heard. It got quiet at the table. Everyone was chewing and nobody looked at each other. Finally Vincent raised his head up.

"Something wrong, Cloud?"

The guy was nervously clutching cup in his hands.

"No. Nothing. Actually, the usual stuff. No… Actually not. I think I might be going crazy."

Yuffie, surprisingly, did not say anything poisonous and looked quite worried. She put her drink down and bowed forward.

"Tell us, Cloud, come on… We are your friends."

Vince wanted to stand up as he felt he did not belong here but Vincent caught his hand under the table and forced him to sit down again. Cloud kept looking in his cup as he was searching for the meaning of life and squeezed it even harder between his fingers. Porcelain squeaked poorly.

"Remember, I told you several times before that I could talk to… well… Aeris and Zack? I can also see them time after time, sit and… But not anymore. Something is constantly interfering, I cannot understand them anymore…"

Vincent murmured something under his breath and again turned his attention to Cloud.

"What exactly do you mean?"

Cloud angrily frowned and put the cup away.

"I mean exactly what I said. I hear them but I do not understand what they say. There is this constant noise in my head, it drives me nuts. It is always there, day and night. Also right now!" he angrily hit his forehead with the fist several times. After the fourth hit Yuffie caught his hand and forced it on the table.

"Leave self – harming for later, spiky – brains."

"Is there anything else you want to tell us?" asked Vincent with the patience of a psychiatrist.

"No… Nothing else… whatever, really. Boring stuff." fastly said Cloud and smiled, though everyone could see it came out rather insecure and fake. "So, I've heard you, guys, go for some business in Midgar? I think you might want a lift, as you are my friends I charge zero."

Vincent still was very attentively looking at Cloud, tracing his every movement and making mental notes. Yuffie was again relaxed and full of life, doing several things at once so it was up to Vince to continue the conversation.

"It would be very generous from your side, Cloud." he said softly and smiled bright, though in his current state of mind that probably looked as cheap and lifeless as Strife's grin just a minute ago. "I cannot count exactly as a friend, but I am quite grateful, nevertheless."

"Chill out, Vincent." answered Cloud and took a swig from his tea that by this time got probably rather cold. "You are 'him' and he, wants it or not, is also considered to be a friend. So what is mine is also yours."

"You have a specific accent… Are you somewhere from Nibel area?" asked Vince politely while returning to his unfinished sandwich.

"Yeah, I come from Nibelheim. But I really hate this place so I don't want to discuss it, ok?"

Turk nodded slowly and did not talk anymore. It was getting more and more complicated with each passing minute. More questions and absolutely no answers. His work was meant to crack puzzles, codes, people sculls… But right now he was standing at the dead end. With no clues there was not a single chance for any kind of progress. Vince was just hoping that their expedition to Midgar will help to tie some of the loose ends. Or he might as well just go crazy.

* * *

**A/N:. **Jeez, my head hurts and I am just an author, I wonder how poor Vince is coping with all that, especially since he totally lacks Vincent's talent of being absolutely closed off anything from the outside world. :-/


	9. Meeting In Midgar

Jesus H. Christ and all the other saints! I cannot believe I finished this chapter. Had to rewrite half of it, because my brains decided to fuck with me and do something that totally was not planned to be written till much later on. I sinserely ask for your forgivence, if someone waited for an update. Have chocolate cookies in a shape of Mako Cannon. :P

* * *

**Meeting in Midgar**

"I hereby declare this place belonging to Wutai and that means all of you have to sit somewhere else."

Vincent just snorted in disapproval and showed Yuffie aside, while settling down on the backseats of the small van Cloud used as his delivery wagon. Vince hesitated; it seemed Yuffie had a special impact on him. He tapped his foot on the ground and bowed a bit forward so that the hair would shield his face. A sign of high embarrassment, no less.

"I will sit in the very back, no trouble…"

Vincent made another annoyed sound and clutched fingers around his twin's wrist.

"Stop this foolishness. The road to Midgar is not a hiking trip. Unless you are of a suicidal nature and mind not to loose a leg or two."

Vince swallowed hard and carefully crawled on the left side of Yuffie, squeezing her to Vincent's side. She squealed and hit driver's seat with her knee, making Cloud curse and spill water from the flask he was holding.

"Cloud, turn the heating on, will you? I am freezing here!"

If a stare could kill, Yuffie would be as good as dead. Vincent gazed at her for a second more and then turned away, like he suddenly forgot about everyone's existence. Brave Ninja of proud Wutai moved away from him, squeezing Vince's arm into some metallic part of the door. Turk did not make a single sound and just produced a smile one could see from the person sitting on the electric chair.

The rain started even before the group left Edge. Sky was dangerously low and Vince felt like he could not breathe. That was strange as he never considered himself being claustrophobic or anything. But there was something in the air, like a tension but it seemed only he could feel it. Yuffie was snoozing by his side, curled up like a kitten and as warm as one; Vincent was looking out of the window in a very concentrated way, like his life was depending on that and Cloud… Cloud looked rather unsettled himself. He was pale in face and was breathing fast and uneven. Vincent frowned slightly and bowed to the driver's place, while tapping on Strife's shoulder.

"Is something… wrong? I can steer if you need rest or anything."

Cloud shook his head slowly and cracked lips in a poor smile.

"I am fine, Vincent. It is the noise in my head. As we get closer to Midgar it gets worse."

"What can you make out of it? Words, sounds? Anything?"

Cloud lowered eyelashes and slowed down the speed of a vehicle.

"I hear two of my friends and I _think_ I hear voices of those I do not want to remember about. But they all mix together and I cannot understand a single thing. It is frustrating as I feel something really important slips through my fingers…"

Vincent, who seemingly, was ignoring them suddenly turned away from the window and searched Cloud's eyes.

"That is not the truth, you do hear something. Cloud, it is essential that you tell us. Especially with your _connections_." Valentine added soft persistence in his voice and kept looking at the blond man in front of him. Cloud gave a nervous tremble and turned away to watch the road ahead of them. Midgar ruins could be already seen in the distance.

"No nothing. I cannot understand a single thing." He finally said slowly. "Now excuse me, I have to watch the road, guard hounds are the most vicious in this area."

Vincent crooked head and shot a stare in Vince's direction. Young man returned the glare in the same manner. It was obvious Cloud was hiding something but both of them could not understand why.

Half an hour later Cloud hit the brakes and turned the engine off. Yuffie, who slept through all the previous discussions, woke up and looked around with sleepy eyes.

"Are we there already? So fast?"

"Time flies, when you sleep like an ox, doesn't it?" remarked Vincent airily while stepping out of the vehicle and searching something in the back of the truck.

"I feel like hitting you somewhere, but for the sake of friendship I will not use one of my awesome ninja stunts on you." said Yuffie in offended tone and jumped out on the ground, while starting to do some stretches.

"You seem to be weapon-less. Will that be enough?"

Next second Vince, who got out of the truck was hugging huge and relatively heavy long-barrel gun similar to that of Vincent. He quickly inspected the weapon and satisfied smirk crawled on his face.

"Nice. One of yours?"

Vincent finally emerged in the sight adjusting his own holsters in a gentle, almost motherly manner.

"Yours now." He turned around and looked in the sky that showed no sign of clearance whatsoever. A blow of wind threw his cloak backwards and made it twirl in the air like wings of mythical creature.

"The ShinRa headquarters are just behind those buildings."

Cloud slammed the doors of the truck shut and shoved huge sword behind his back. Vince noticed it earlier. It was admirable piece of work and he, being himself, kept silently wondering of the origins of the weapon. Too shy to ask he had been peeking on it now and then and finally came to the conclusion it was imitating traditional patterns of Banora region. It was just a theory as for statement the Turk needed a proper look at the hilt and edges of the blade.

"Midgar became a dangerous place. Even though we are armed it is better for us to hurry to our destination. Let's not waste time." With those words Cloud turned around and marched down the narrow street filled with rubble, wrecked metal constructions and trash. Yuffie and Vince got placed in the middle and Vincent was walking behind them, seemingly uninterested but catching every little sound and every move in the corners of his eyes.

The city of Midgar. Vince remembered it being huge vast space with tall buildings and wide streets. Last time he was here, most of the place was nothing more then a pile of paper sketches. Beautiful sketches, full of potential, pride and hope for the bright happy future. And now… Vince shook his head. He really did not want to think about this 'now' anymore. Remembering last few days brought nothing but confusion and a huge feeling of guilt that Vince was unsuccessfully trying to smother till the circumstances would become somewhat clearer. He did not need those distractions, especially about something he may or may not have done.

"Oh man, it looks even worse then the last time we've been here. This, mind you, was not even so long ago." Yuffie's clear voice distracted young man from his thoughts and he looked up from the ground. A huge mighty building, remains of giant pipes were like snakes crawling to it from all the directions. Vince recognised another project he saw once – Mako reactors. It used to be nothing more then an ambitious plan as production of Mako was quite difficult and risky. Sure, people would not hear any of what he was trusted with inside the walls of ShinRa Manufacturing but if they knew…

"Any solid plan on how we are getting there, Vincent?" Cloud sceptically narrowed eyes and overlooked the wreckage of the skyscraper. "After Omega's awakening and demise there not much place to walk on."

Vince checked the walls and seemingly estimated possibilities of climbing when suddenly something attracted his attention. He could swear on his life there was something zooming in the air to the left of their group just a second ago.

"I think we are…" he started still staring at the pile of rubble where he saw the little flying thing.

"… being watched." finished Vincent and with the speed of the light drew out his gun. Next moment series of bullets hit metal garbage somewhere to the right, making dull thuds as they rammed the surface of the construction. A yelp of panic sounded in the air followed closely by a stream of bad language some of which Vince had not heard in his entire life.

"You freaking ass, Valentine! One polite question would be enough, ya know?!" One of the shadows moved a bit and slid down on the ground, turning to be tall, thin and lanky man with a messy red hair tied together in a ponytail. He nervously dusted his suit and crossed hands on chest in an extremely frivolous and lazy manner.

"Yuffie was right, Turks _are_ sniffing around Midgar. Why?" Vincent lowered gun but did not hide it completely, letting Reno enjoy the view.

"Well, boss has a piece of nostalgia now and then, so we go and search for some garbage to bring back to…"

"There is only one Chocobo around here, Reno. Why are you really in Midgar, uh? I saw you before." snapped Yuffie in rather annoyed manner that neither Vincent, Cloud nor Vince had ever heard from her. She stepped forward and shook huge and shiny Shiruken in the air, aiming precisely between Reno's eyes.

There was a nose to be heard from the right and a moment later Reno got joined by a second man. Quite tall, with tanned skin and eyes hidden behind toned sunglasses, newcomer was surrounded by aura of confidence and tranquillity. For some reason Vince had a feeling that this person was not much of a talker and preferred work to a random chit – chat.

"Confidential information."

There was a relief seen in Reno's face and his smile became more brash and wide.

"Bingo, confidential. So to say, c'est la vie."

Vincent stepped forward with a face of a pure indifference.

"I have a strong feeling we are here for one and the same thing. So either you talk now, or I shoot your knee and then we talk again, at your place."

Reno backed away and half hid behind his companion, who did not move an inch. Vince, who was attentively watching and listening to the conversation, could immediately tell that Valentine was serious. And all the participants were quite aware of that. Vince did not want it to turn ugly and being Turk was much about diplomacy. And if diplomacy failed to work – lies and violence. He quickly stepped forward while putting his gun on the ground besides him.

"You planted surveillance bots around this area, possibly - the whole city. There must be a reason for that, obviously. We might be after the same goal as you are, so, perhaps, cooperation would be suitable and more then just welcomed."

Both Turks now slowly turned in his direction. Reno's eyes became as big as gil coins and his companion dropped his glasses on his nose in amusement.

"Whoah, man, isn't this… like…from The Turks…?" whispered red-haired guy while constantly nudging on his partners shoulder.

Vince reached to the pocket of his suit and dragged out a little plastic card which, a second later he threw to Reno. Turk twitched it in his fingers and finally looked at the letters.

"Department of Administrative Research/Turks, Vincent Valentine… ShinRa Manufacturing…" he paused and looked up again. "ShinRa _Manufacturing_? Dude, that was, like, ages ago…"

"I am quite aware of that." answered Vince dryly and reached out to take the card back. "Now I would like to know why you are here."

There was an uneasy pause while Reno was cringing in estimation of possibilities that were ahead of him whether he tells the truth or not and the second Turk was drilling holes in Vince's face. Cloud and Yuffie stood behind and did not interfere as, probably, they were stunned with the whole surrealism of the situation. What Vincent was up to young man had not a single clue.

"Tseng is going to kill me."

"Obviously."

"But this is so huge, man. Are you with me?"

"Naturally."

Reno sighed and threw some strands of hair behind his shoulders in a casual and self-adoring manner. Then he adjusted high collar of his shirt and dusted something invisible from his pants.

"It is quite simple, really. We suspect Sephiroth is back." he silenced for a bit and quietly examined the faces of four people in front of him. Cloud looked extremely surprised and anxious, Yuffie's face was pale in horror, Vincent's expression was unreadable, only his eyes became even more dark-red in colour while another Valentine, the Turk, was astonished and highly confused. His hand that was still holding the card gave a nervous tremble and almost dropped the ID. "He is back and he might not be alone this time."

* * *

A/N.: Noooo... can you imagine?? Sephiroth might be back! He is always back, that is not even funny anymore. But did he had to be such a good villain? Did he? In my defence - there might be more then just Sephiroth coming back... Come to think of that... A lot of people in FFVII universe have a right to come back and kick ass one more time...

Jeez, and Yuffie tries to joke. Don't joke about Vincent. That is neither funny, nor healthy.


	10. Agreement

While I am still not gone to Latvia for the whole month with no ability to write I will try to work on maximum productivity... Jeez, more then 3000 words, I think my personal record, no less. Qood when you have a boyfriend playing Dirge of Cerberus under your nose to inspire you, no less!

* * *

**Agreement**

Small black vehicle led the way through the streets of Midgar and the team was once again packed in Cloud's truck. Shortly after revealing their business on this graveyard Reno had to phone Tseng for further instructions. Leader of the Turks was quite displeased with the situation at the beginning but Reno mentioned the presence of Vince and Tseng allowed them to proceed. No-one talked to each other. Yuffie joined Cloud in the front and both Vincents were looking out of the window over dull and lifeless post-apocalyptic landscapes. Vince was absentmindedly staring around, trying not to concentrate too much on everything that happened. As the time was flying by he was noticing more and more mismatching with his memories and the current situation. As he remembered it, the confrontation with Hojo happened in the basement of ShinRa mansion. And then Vincent escaped. He could recall it was summer… However, what seemed to him as several days turned out to be three decades and even then he could not understand why it was late autumn, why he was so heavily wounded and why, knowing that Hojo would be still in the Manor, he returned at its doorstep. Perhaps he was in delirium and could not control his doings… Vince cringed and slowly rubbed eyes with two fingers, he needed some rest but right now it was not possible. He sighed and returned to observing the world outside the window.

Vincent carefully took his cell-phone out of the pocket and toyed with it a bit, while stroking metal patterns with his thumb. The things have been quite chaotic lately but that could not justify him ignoring her. Slowly he flipped the phone open and dialled Shelke's number. For a second Vincent wanted to abort the call as he had no idea what to say and how to answer if she asks something in return. The high tune announced that the connection was made and then it was already too late for Vincent to switch the phone off.

"Shelke?" He asked quietly so other passengers of the truck would not hear him. Vince was too deep in his own thoughts, so he would not pay attention anyway, Cloud and Yuffie did stone faces and turned away, giving their friend some privacy.

"Vincent Valentine." Her voice sounded as calm as always but he caught happy jingles in it. The girl was all alone in the huge mansion and though she clamed she could be perfectly fine on her own Vincent felt guilt pulsating somewhere within his stomach. He remembered a promise to look after Shelke.

"I was busy, sorry. How… how are you?"

"The usual. Could be better. Vincent… I… I was thinking…"She suddenly started to stumble over her own words and dropping pauses now and then. "About, well… us."

Vincent narrowed eyes and made painful face-expression. He could not believe they would have to start all over again.

"I thought we discussed it more then I wish we did. I will never…"

"Please let me finish." She said softly in an accusing manner. Another striking similarity between Shelke and Lucrecia, caused by a collision of Dr. Crescent's neural data and girl's own mind. "I am sorry that I am… so persistent. Now, that you are away, Lucrecia's memetic patterns don't interfere with my own thinking so I can see the difference between her and mine wishes and desires."

Vincent silenced patiently. He had no idea where would this conversation go and was trying to prepare himself for all the possible outcomes.

"When you are near I hardly can understand where Dr. Crescent ends and I begin. I say what I do not want to say but rarely understand the incorrectness of it. Please forgive me for all the previous… attempts. I want to be nothing then good friends."

Vincent smiled softly and closed his eyes. Of all the variations that ran through his head in the matter of a second none did predict such result. He pressed the phone to another ear and looked outside the window where it was getting dark.

"Thank you."

She sniffed on the other side of the line and walked to the living room. Vincent was sure it was living room; he had heard the cracks of wood in the fireplace.

"How is your investigation?"

"Pending." Answered Vincent calmly and overlooked people in front of him. "There are some complications… We've met with the Turks…I may tell you later."

There was a pause on the other side of the line; Vincent felt that he had said something wrong.

"May tell me?"

"The information may highly disturb Lucrecia's memory and throw you back in the state you were in. None of us wants that."

Shelke silenced again, probably wondering what the news might be about and finally sighed.

"I understand but I must go now. Phone me once in a while, Vincent Valentine."

"Will do." He said with a smirk and hit 'Cancel' button. Yuffie, who for the past ten minutes was trying to pretend her ears fell out finally turned around and lightly touched Vincent's arm. He looked from the window in a questioning manner.

"How is she?" Asked Yuffie a bit shyly. She and Shelke had several clashes in the past but ex-member of the Tsviets helped WRO greatly during the Deepground crisis and as much as Ninja wanted to smack Shelke in the face for several deeds she could not forget, she had to be fair.

"Mentally - better."

"And in health?"

"I didn't ask."

Yuffie furrowed brows and gazed at the man in front of her in highly disapproving manner. She could never understand his ways of handling things. Vincent could be really concerned about something insignificant and at the same time totally ignoring people around him. Being unfriendly and lonely person he, however, cared about those that considered him to be their friend. In the times of second Jenova Crisis Yuffie was told that Vincent saved Elena and Tseng from silver-haired trio. Neither ShinRa, nor Turks, its faithful lapdogs, were amongst Valentine's favourites. Tifa, then, suggested it could be remains of his old self that were unwillingly dragging him towards the past he hated so much.

A quiet ringtone broke the tension and Vincent heard Cloud muttering something in a confirmative manner. Less then a minute later he hit the brakes and turned engine off.

"We had arrived."

Yuffie, who was already struggling with her seatbelt, looked into the darkness, in a vane attempt to recognise their exact locations.

"Arrived? Arrived where? I cannot see a thing, jeez, is that so difficult to put up some lanterns or anything? Rufus is such a greedy butt, if you ask me…"

"Mister ShinRa will notice your concern." Was heard somewhere from another side of the truck and a second later a head poked into the compartment. Heavy flock of long silk-black hair slid down person's shoulders, shielding male's face and he gracefully threw it back, revealing alabaster skin and dark almond-shaped eyes. Young man quickly overlooked the passengers and stopped at Vince. He then reached out, offering a handshake.

"Tseng, field leader of the Turks."

"Vincent Valentine." Said Vince absentmindedly and shook Tseng's hand. The Turk pulled back, finally allowing Yuffie to sit straight. She hissed something angry and Tseng answered calmly in the same language. Vince immediately recognised it as Wutai dialect, not widely spread and known only to inhabitants of Wutai area.

"We did not intend to involve anyone from WRO, but so it seems it became unavoidable." Continued the Turk while holding the door open for Yuffie. In a highly disgruntled state of mind she climbed out of the vehicle. At first Yuffie wanted to do so as the Princess of Wutai, to throw it into Tseng's face but natural clumsiness made her trip and almost dig with her nose in the muddy ground. The Turk softly chuckled and helped her up.

"You are trying too hard, Princess Kisaragi."

Yuffie angrily jerked her elbow from his grip and marched away to the supposed location of the front door. "Traitor."

"Depends on the perspective… Entrance is to the left."

Both Vincents and Cloud stood a bit aside and watched the scene. The blond looked a bit bored and sleepy; Vincent gazed at the two arguing people in amusement. Vince bowed to him in a casual manner and nodded in the direction of Yuffie.

"What is with her?"

Vincent slowly turned away and cracked his lips in an imitation of the smile.

"People of Wutai hate ShinRa. And the fellow villager that joins the enemy is meant to be considered as good as dead." He nodded again at the handsome Turk, who left Yuffie be and now went in their direction. "I suppose during her childhood Yuffie knew him personally."

"Please proceed to the entrance." Tseng pointed in the direction they needed to go and was the first one to move forward. "Do excuse us for the lack of outside lights; we really do not want to attract the unnecessary attention."

"Unnecessary attention?" Questioned Cloud, who seemed to wake up from his trance and rejoined their group.

"_Any_ unnecessary attention." Clarified Tseng in a semi-friendly, semi-dry tone, showing that this discussion ends here and now.

"_Any unnecessary attention…_" Heard Vince somewhere behind. "What a pompous Chocobo head… No, head is a compliment! I'd say it is Chocobo's behind from where I am standing." Angry muttering was accompanied with a lot of frustrated sniffing and snorting. Young man slowed down and a moment later something poked in his back. That something made a whiny sound of pain and stood still.

"Yuffie? Is anything wrong?" He asked softly and reached out hoping to find her shoulder. The sniffs became a tad louder as if she was trying to suppress them.

"Thanks for asking." She muffled and released a deep sight. "I am just tired. And I seriously need some rest, and meeting with Rufus is not something I sleep and dream about."

"That is understandable." Nodded Vince in the darkness, trying to give her some confidence, though it was perfectly clear she was not telling the truth. "If you ever need advice or support… Talk to me, ok?"

The sniffs got now real quiet and he felt her palm carefully touching his shoulder.

"Hey, thanks… I did not know you cared… err… being Vincent Valentine and all."

Vince gave a little laugh and gently pushed her in the direction of the rest of the group. Yuffie, drying her face, jogged to the entrance door, young man slowly followed.

_I did not know you cared… being Vincent Valentine and all._

These words stuck in his mind and kept repeating themselves like a broken record. They are one and the same. Somewhere something went wrong, causing Vincent to become what he was now – a total opposite of himself, ditching own morals and own entity. But again Vince waved those thoughts away, it was not the place and certainly not the time to try and dig something up. Perhaps later he will be able to challenge Vincent for a conversation.

Tseng patiently waited for Vince to step inside and swiftly closed the door behind his back, locking multiple locks. A moment later he rejoined the group and led them down the hallway into small but very comfortable office. The room was decorated with large beautiful paintings and heavy crimson-coloured silk curtains were pulled over the windows, shielding the office from the outside world. In the furthest corner of the room stood huge monitor which was now turned off. While both Vince and Yuffie were gazing around, the door to the office had opened once again and two Turks they have met in Midgar took their position to the left and right sides of the doorway. Vince perfectly well knew the procedure; he himself did this routine many times before, even though he was more of the field agent and did not guard any persons of national importance. Soft mechanical buzzing made Vince turn away from the men in black and look in the direction of the door again. The sound was coming from a wheelchair, in which sat a young man with platinum blond hair, fragile, almost feminine face features and a rather cunning face expression. His ice-blue eyes slowly scanned the surrounding and as well stopped a tad bit longer on Vince. Young man felt as someone was drilling two holes in his face, even though blond man's intentions were nothing more then simple curiosity, at this point.

"You must be…Vincent Valentine, correct?" He asked in a soft calm voice and curled up his lips in polite smile. "My name is Rufus ShinRa and it is a pleasure to meet you."

Vince gave a firm nod and straightened his back, while accepting the handshake.

"Pleasure is all mine, sir."

Rufus smiled again and now nodded to all of the other people. "Cloud, Vincent, Yuffie…Long time no seen."

"Rufus, we have no time for such sort of talks. Let's get to business." Cloud brought out in a rather hostile manner, it was clear he did not want to step a feet in here or wherever there was the presence of ShinRa Company.

"Very well then, we shall start." Rufus smiled again and dimmed the lights in the room. He then proceeded to huge monitor that was now vaguely glowing and inserted small round disk in the CD slot.

"Before we begin, I'd like to give a little insight of my doings."

"He sounds like he is giving a speech on the parade." Whispered Yuffie to Vince and made annoyed snort. "Like we did not hear enough of that when he was still the President."

"Rufus was the President of ShinRa Company? What had happened to his father?" Asked young man in the same quiet whispering. His memory was not stretching more then remembering previous President ShinRa, sturdy man in his thirties, with a flock of yellow hair, piercing cold blue eyes and ambitions that could reach the moon.

"He was killed by Sephiroth in the beginning of Jenova War." Hissed Ninja back. "It was totally…"

"Miss Kisaragi, am I in any way disturbing you?" Questioned Rufus coldly from where he was sitting. Yuffie chocked in own words and silenced, spreading the waves of anger around herself. Rufus sighed and turned to the people that now gathered around the big screen and patiently waited.

"As you might have noticed, we planted surveillance cameras around Midgar, especially concentrating on the area around ShinRa headquarters. That was a necessary precaution after Deepground incident."

"Isn't that work for Reeve and his WRO?" Questioned Vincent calmly while admiring nearby curtain, that made a nice match with his cloak and eyes. Rufus nodded enthusiastically and grabbed a long pencil from the table that he started twitching between his fingers.

"We are those sponsors that Reeve may had mentioned one way or another. However, as much as we are involved with World Regenesis Project, ShinRa has agenda of its own."

"I knew it! You never leave us alone, do you? What is it now? What are you plotting, uh?" Fired Yuffie a round of questions. A simple sentence from Rufus sent her into a spin, since she was constantly awaiting foul play from the people who, even though had claimed to seize being their enemies, were still never a fully opened book.

"Let me explain, Yuffie." Calmly demanded ex-President and waited a bit for the girl to calm down. "While WRO mostly concentrates on helping Gaia to regain her balance after Meteorfall, we are responsible for tracking down any hostile or/and abnormal activities. We are rather new in this sphere, and are merely experimenting with technology, so far nobody knows what we are doing, not even Reeve."

"Pitiful remains of ShinRa Electric-Power Company are trying to protect the world. Alternative reality, anyone?" Said Cloud harshly and crossed hands on his chest. "Last time we met face to face _I_ was told _you_ want to bring ShinRa back to life."

"People change, Cloud." Replied Rufus calmly and looked at the pencil in his hands.

"ShinRa never changes."

"Everyone is entitled of their opinions. However in future I do hope to prove you wrong." Young man put the pencil on the table and grabbed the remote control. "And now I want to show something one of our cameras filmed several days ago." With those words he had pressed the 'Play' button and everyone, including all the Turks present and Rufus himself turned to the screen.

The quality of transmission was horrible, the picture kept defragmentating, stucking and when it did not the surroundings were very blurred and it took Vince some time to understand it was filmed in front of the remains of ShinRa skyscraper.

"The quality is less then mediocre, it was storming that night over Midgar and our cameras were not built to endure such wind and rain." Explained Tseng somewhere behind them, probably taking the role of narrator for the rest of the 'show'.

For some two minutes nothing seemed to change on the picture; however Vince, whose eyes started to hurt from intense staring on the screen saw a figure moving down the piles of rubble. The person was in a hurry, he or she kept sliding down, falling, standing up again and continuing the descend. Two more figures appeared out of the darkness. The one looked like a crimson red dot on the blurred screen and the other one… The bright lightning flashed in the sky, bathing the scenery in blinding white light. But a split second was enough to notice the strands of long silver hair flapping in the wind. Somewhere to the right of him Vince heard Yuffie gagging from surprise and fear, Cloud curled up his fists till the leather gloves he was wearing started to creak poorly, Vincent made a step forward and stopped, astonished by the view. Probably till this very moment he did not believe the Turks and Rufus were telling the truth. The recording, however, continued. The person in red jumped down and grabbed the figure in black that was now trying to escape, by its throat. The male (Vince had decided to consider the rest to be males as well), started to struggle but in vane. Silver-haired man jumped down as well and all three, seemingly, started to talk to each other, trying to over-yell the wind. Finally person in crimson-red threw away the man he was holding making the male to roll over the ground and hit huge metallic construction with his back. His opponent drew out something that could be anything but, most possibly, sword, and was now towering over his victim. All of a sudden the forth shadow slid on the scene, he and silver-haired male crossed the swords but suddenly the video started to lag, tremble and second later there was nothing but white noise on the screen.

"The camera got hit by the lighting. That is all we managed to extract." Said Tseng and flipped the light switch, while Rufus turned the screen off. He straightened his back and looked at people in front of him.

"You all saw this. And all of you, who could," He gave apologising look to Vince. "Recognised Sephiroth, SOLDIER first class. The questions are quite predictable. How? Why? And who are the other three people on the tape."

Vincent, who was still standing in front of everyone, seemingly mindlessly staring at the dead monitor slowly raised head and looked in the direction of ex-president.

"One of them, the man in red, comes with Sephiroth. About the others two I do not have a single clue. The four of them seemed to have some disagreement, sadly we have no idea how did it end and who did survive that night."

"How does it cross with situation personally I and Vincent are in?" asked Vince politely and smiled a bit, for a more friendly impression. Tseng, who now was standing near his boss, crossed hands behind his back and crooked head a bit.

"We do not know yet. However, you have to agree, your situation is most peculiar… You may be connected with what you saw more then you can imagine right now."

Rufus raised hand, making Tseng silence and kept looking only on both Vincents who were now standing near each other.

"I _personally_ ask you to help us in our goal. As a matter of fact, you all will be rewarded."

Yuffie peaked from behind Vince, her face shining happily with the mention of extra money but quite suspicious over the first part of the sentence.

"And what is your goal?"

Rufus pushed the button on his chair and it moved from behind the desk so he would be facing his guests directly.

"Investigate, track down, ambush and, in the end, terminate."

* * *

**A/N.:**Jeez, how many more characters this story can get? How I am supposed to look after all of them? XP Plus there seems to be several new skeletons in the closet added for Yuffie(did she ever had any anyway?) Shelke finally came in terms with her feelings, just in time to finally explain to reader that I am not a pervert and all that :D And Sephiroth **is** back, bastard!

drifts away

drifts back

Thank you for reviews, I am glad I still get them, so maybe I am not doomed to the society, yay!


	11. At That Day

Man! I cannot believe I updated!(builds herself Update Shrine) I am still in Latvia and still with lack of Internet, so bless me father and his computer. I was writing this chapter bit by bit, when I had access to computer, during whole last two weeks and now I can give my brains some rest till I come back to The Netherlands. I hope you enjoy this chapter but usually I was writing it quite late, right now it is 1.00 am here and I am falling asleep on the keyboard. XD So yeah... it may be poo after all. but I give cookies to my reviewers. They are tasty! (waves around with cookies)

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**At That Day...**

The room was dark and several lamps high on the ceiling did not give enough light to illuminate the surroundings but it was more then needed for two people who were standing in the middle of the room filled with glass tubes and strange sort of containers.

"You lost them! Why did you do that, Sephiroth?! We had an agreement, you help me, I help you."

Tall man near him raised his face up and the weak light glittered in his greenish cat-eyes.

"We were dealing with my problem, not yours. I see for myself how and what I do. I hope this is clear."

The other man was fuming with anger, his shoulders were vaguely trembling and he looked like he was trying to suppress a great deal of rage.

"He was so close, you could kill him now and then we'd overlook my matter."

"You are great deal of a fool sometimes, no wonder it was me who was the legendary SOLDIER member and not vice versa."

His partner staggered and stopped. A beam of light now reflected from his light blue irises which anyone who was not blind could identify as marks of Mako infusion.

"That is not true." He said curtly and his voice made a nervous jump. "I was as great as you were. We all…"

"You can prove me wrong." Answered Sephiroth with a soft chuckle in his voice. "Just follow my lead and do not question my doings. Till some degree, obviously."

Young man near him angrily pressed lips together. "Every second counts. I have to find her and ask what I did wrong and why she rejected me. Me, her most devoted servant. The only person who ever believed in her true existence."

Sephiroth stopped and swiftly turned around. His coat twirled behind him like wings of the bat.

"You found her? You really did?" He sniggered. "I have never thought… You got to admire the determination."

His companion decided to ignore obvious sarcasm and closed his eyes slowly; making long shadows from eyelashes fall on his pale cheeks.

"Whatever suits you, my friend."

* * *

Strong wind had never left the wastelands that surrounded Midgar. It was forever there, every single day, every single minute. Since Cloud could remember the wind had never stopped or calmed down, was it sun or was it rain, was it winter or spring. However the place where Cloud was sitting now, a high cliff that gave broad view over the ruins of Midgar was strangely calm as if the wind stream was avoiding it. It was as quiet here as on the graveyard. Perhaps because it was a graveyard.

"Zack… How have you been doing?" asked Cloud quietly while looking at the huge rusty sword standing tall on the edge of the cliff.

… _My honor… My dreams… They're yours now…_

Cloud closed his eyes and stroked dust in front of his feet. His mind was still filled with strange nagging noise and he could hear Zack's voice that was trying to break through invisible barrier. But it was impossible to understand what his friend wanted to say. It had started recently but the alien sounds deeply settled down in young man's brains, denying him sleep and making him extremely restless. Many times Cloud was trying to concentrate and track the source of strange frequency, he was often coming here in hope to hear his friend better but nothing seemed to work. In the end he was always talking to himself and even though Zack may have heard him there was no way he could break through the noise.

"Again a failure." Whispered Cloud and rubbed his forehead with two fingers. "This is driving me insane; I feel this is something really important, it may help Vincent one way or another, I know it… But… I just can't do it." Last words came out harsh and with great bit of frustration; Cloud hated to admit he could not find the way out. He loathed the sense of uselessness because that was exactly what he was trying to escape all his life and ended up as he was now: an empty shell filled only with sorrow and self-despising.

"It should have been you, you know that?" He stated in the air, rubbing eyes angrily. "To survive. To go to Midgar… To join AVALANCHE. To fight Sephiroth… Who knows, maybe you would be the one to bring him to his senses." Cloud jumped on his feet and brushed dust from his pants. "How dared you to die?! You were the one to deserve a chance, not me!" He clutched one hand around Buster Sword and jerked the rusty weapon out of the ground. "I promised to live out both our lives. And even that promise I could not keep." The sun peaked out from behind the dark clouds and a beam reflected from metallic hilt of the sword, making Cloud to narrow eyes and turn away. Carefully he weighed the heavy old weapon in his hand and placed it back, to its final resting place.

"Sorry Zack, I must go now. See you around… buddy."

A minute later a sound of motorcycle engine roared up in a distance and then everything got quiet. The sun crawled out of its hiding once again and illuminated the whole plateau, making Buster Sword shine and glitter like a diamond. Slowly, with a graceful dance in the air a single white feather fell on the ground settling itself besides the weapon.

…_Angeal..._

* * *

After arriving in Edge Vincent announced he needed time on his own and disappeared upstairs. Soon after that Cloud excused himself and sped off somewhere. Tifa was nowhere to be seen, she could have been away for business and Vince found himself aimlessly wandering around from corner to corner and staring at the floor.

He kept replaying the meeting with the son of president ShinRa in his head, particularly concentrating on the video that he had seen. Four persons of which the only known one was Sephiroth. Vince carefully touched his wounds that now had almost healed themselves. Could that person on the video, the one who was running away, be him?

"Logically speaking – no. The event had taken place in Midgar and unless I can fly or magically reappear on random locations I cannot possibly imagine… However in my case logics are not something I can fully rely on."

"Nice one, Vince. Talking to yourself aren't we? Where I come from, we call it schizophrenia." That sounded somewhere behind his back, coming from the direction of the staircase. Vince immediately stopped his musings and looked over his shoulder.

"Where_ I_ come from, we call it _deduction_." Soft smile touched his lips as he fully turned around. "Of all people in this house you, Yuffie, would be the last person I expected seeing spending time without any general purpose. That's where I ask myself… What is the reason?"

She pulled an annoyed muzzle and wiggled nose in rather charming childish manner.

"Huh? I am absolutely…"

"Tseng, uh?"

Yuffie got caught by surprise. For a brief moment her cheeks became so red that it made Vince to worry for the safety of her blood pressure but then she, seemingly, re-took control over her feelings.

"What in the name of Wutai made you think that kind of nonsense?"

He marched towards the girl and settled down on one of the chairs that stood around the room. The lights were dimmed and that was creating sort of calm and easy atmosphere, no matter what people were talking about.

"A word here, a sentence there, a little bit of logics over everything and there we have a solid theory. I did not become Turk for riding on the fame of my father."

Yuffie got purplish again and hid her face in shadows.

"You stupid de...deeda…deductionist, I should have known better then spending my time with the person whose name is Vincent Valentine." She released deep sight and Vince clearly heard knuckles cracking. Perhaps it was not the best idea to talk to the Wutai Ninja Princess about her personal sorrows.

"Jeez, I guess I better make a confession, or I might get crazy with all that stuff." Yuffie made another overly-dramatical sound and switched position so she would sit closer to Vince and see his face while talking. "Yes, it is Tseng but not in the contest you might have thought about…"

* * *

He made his way through a series of hallways and finally took direction to the surveillance room. Though seemingly absentmindedly but always alert in the back of his mind he touched wall with fingertips. Cold and lifeless metal. Tseng was never really fond of technogenic wonders. Back where he was born everything was made out of wood and stone and even though last time he had visited his homeland was way before Wutai War, Tseng had clearly remembered the feeling of sensation each time he was looking at the giant red temples on the main square.

Another door opened as he slowly and thoughtfully put his palm on the sensor pad besides it.

Not a muscle moved on Tseng's face when the door slid away and he saw his two subordinates, Reno and Rude, to be precise, sitting casually at the little table playing checkers. Or so it seemed. Reno was obviously cheating, while Rude, in his particular manner did not care and kept playing with his usual two 'D's: determination and dedication. Red-haired Turk was also sipping from a huge can that by the sweet-sour scent could be easily identified as Edge Ale, quite cheap and quite alcoholic beverage that was loved by many around this region of Gaia.

"Third time this week." Said Tseng calmly, while snatching the can from the fingers of Reno, who did not hear his boss coming. "I believe another nightshift would be suitable. And dishwashing, on that matter."

Reno choked in offence and shot angry stare in Rude's direction. His partner dropped glasses on his nose and did a face that was clearly suggesting the trouble-maker was on his own here.

"But boss, it was just a little one, to relax, y'know..? Come on…"

"I'll double if you do not stop the whining, Reno."

The Turk pressed lips together and angrily crossed hands on his chest, looking at Tseng from the corner of his eyes.

"In Midgar nothing had changed for the past day. So, you know…"

Tseng swiftly threw the can in the dustbin that was standing on the other side of the room. It was without a doubt that the bottle reached its destination.

"You continue doing that."

"And you are going where, boss?"

"To rewatch the video once again. We may have missed something. "

Last words were still sounding in the room but Tseng had already closed the door to a small chamber filled with wide-screens and recording machinery.

He did not talk about it with anyone but there was a vague suspicion about one of the other strangers on the tape. It could be just the trick of his imagination but there were facts, papers…

The video started to play and the Turk carefully settled down in the nearby chair without looking away from the monitors. He again saw the man in black trying to escape, staggering, falling and standing up again, then the person in red came to the scene and attacked the victim. Tseng hit the pause button and kept staring at the crimson silhouette, deformed by the horrible quality of the video.

"In the end papers reported you dead… What if not?" He silenced and lowered eyelashes while thinking about something. It suddenly popped up in Tseng's mind but it could make some sense… perhaps. He slowly crossed fingers and ogled at the figure on the screen. "Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return…"

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**A/N:. **Ok... obvously Cloud is EMO in this story. I have to disappoint his fangirls, I am not fond of him, I find him quite spineless whiny post-teenager with a healthy personality crisis and general uselessness. So do not kill me, I have a freedom of speech! xD Plus, I don't bash his fangirls, different tastes are always different tastes. Yup. :))

**A/N 2:. **This face(points at her own picture) and suspense are two different things from different universe. I was trying to keep some deal of mystery through the chapters but I think too much suspence hurts, so yeah... I guess everyone knows by now who are the other people on the video, but I am not telling, for the sake of it :P

**A/N 3:. **Harr harr harr, there is still Yuffie's secret lurking in shadows!(welcomes back Lady of Suspence Citadel). And while I am at it, allow me a random fangirl moment: TSENG AND SEPHIROTH!!(prays through the knees over eternal hotness)AND VINCENT! ALL OF THEM!(prays again)

Ok, do not call the ambulance, I am fine, I swear on the roaches that used to live in our kitchen! (runs away laughting like a madman)


	12. Silent Edge

MAN, I UPDATED!!11!! I am seriously sorry, but apart from being quite busy and trying to sign into University, I am also totally addicted to Viva Pinata and Naruto, so I had no time to write whatsoever .; But I did have quite sometime to ponder, so I think I finally got the basics of the plot figured out. Anyways, I hope you like the chapter, I, actually, quite like it myself(happens RARE). As usually, free cookies for reviewers, milk is also available. Cheers!

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**Silent Edge**

As soon as the night took over the day and the darkness covered the city of Edge with thick blanket Vincent slid out of the window and softly landed on the ground. He could have used the door but he had heard Vince and Yuffie downstairs and walking out in the night would bring up a lot of unnecessary questions. Especially since Vincent did not quite know himself why he wanted to go away. It was, perhaps, his nature of a loner, violated by the need of working in the team, which was calling to him and pleading for solitude.

Edge, as Vincent had noticed before, seemed as dead as the last time he was here, during the Tsviets Crisis. A grim smirk crawled on his face. Reeve and his organisational skills, as mighty as they were, could not fight against people fears. Many of them decided to abandon Edge forever since it seemed to repeat the fate of Midgar, The Damned City, as they called it. Vincent could not blame anyone. Second Jenova Crisis, the Tsviets… Masses feared for their lives, many lost relatives and people dear to them during both incidents.

"Perhaps our attempts are in vane…"he whispered and with grace made a jump that took him on the roof of a nearby house. "Perhaps we should have allowed the planet to do what it wanted…" he jumped on the other rooftop, wind blowing hair out of his face. "And perhaps it is the very existence of humanity that sickens the planet." As a giant bat, his cloak widely waving in the air and face illuminated by moon that was weakly peaking from the clouds, Vincent was changing one rooftop after another without any goal. It was just this feeling of freedom, being not tied to anything and not seeing anyone that seemed to calm him down and wipe the gloomy mask away from his face. Edge was huge. Not as huge as Midgar but, as fast as Vincent was, he still did not make it to the outskirts. Once, years ago, he used to love megapolises, being born in one he felt uneasy and pressured in the small villages such as Kalm or Mideel. Being stationed in Nibelheim more then thirty years ago seemed like undeserved punishment of some sort. He was angry, he demanded the possibility of being transferred anywhere but that sorry place. Especially since Verdot, his team mate, got himself a nice cosy workplace in Midgar, back then a rapidly growing centre of Mako Industrialisation. If not for Lucrecia, his time in Nibelheim would be one never-ending torture. If not for Lucrecia, his life now would not be one never-ending torture.

"Petty. Petty and childish." he muttered under his breath referring to the memories of his riots and countless letters to the Department of General Affairs, Lucrecia stayed out of the question, Vincent's mind was refusing to blame her for anything that happened and all the guilt, was it hers or not, was automatically put on Hojo's account. The very thought of Hojo made Vincent cringe and he abruptly stopped, chilly breeze stroking his cheeks. Even out of the grave that abomination to science makes people to remember his name. When one thinks there can be nothing more, another Deepground appears. Or another Sephiroth. Or…

A sudden movement somewhere to the left made Vincent freeze and slowly turn around. He hated haste, besides his senses were twice as better as of any human so it would not be difficult to dodge a sudden attack if one would come. Another shadow, now to the right, slid rapidly between two houses and disappeared in the darkness. He was being surrounded. Vincent could have supposed those were monsters that were freely roaming in Midgar and sometimes set their foot in Edge but the monsters were never about secrecy and stealth pursuing, plus his intuition was telling Vincent the trackers were humans. Apart from AVALANCHE and WRO the city was empty. And even if it wasn't, who would possibly go out in the middle of the night?

Three more shadows slid past and Vincent, without a second thought, darted forward. He wanted to reach the main square. There was plenty of open space, as Vincent preferred to stay on the wide areas with clear view; his agility and speed were his best weapons and the enemies, who could not follow his movements from the cover had to reveal themselves giving Vincent another advantage. From the corner of his eyes Vincent saw several silhouettes fastly changing their direction and tightly following his trail.

The best idea, perhaps, was to shake them off and then simply return to "Seventh Heaven" pulling the face as nothing had happened and calmly contact Tseng; however Vincent wanted to test the skills of his possible enemies, he did not want to risk and endanger his friends.

After several minutes of fast running the buildings had abruptly ended giving place to a big elliptical square with a giant monument in the middle. Vincent shoved his cloak aside and swiftly jumped down, making fast spin in the air and dragging Cerberus out of the holster. For a second the still silence had been disturbed when the soils of Vincent's boots touched the ground and everything got quiet again. Quickly he stepped in the shadow of monument and scanned the rooftops. Empty.

"Not so smart after all…" he whispered and lowered the hand with the gun a bit. And then it came. The moment Vincent had noticed several tall figures coming out of the shadow, he felt Chaos once again roaring inside him. It was twitching, eager to come out. There was someone here, someone else, not the people that were approaching him. Someone who did not reveal himself but kept watching. Vincent could feel Chaos' hatred. The stinging pain pierced his heart and made it to skip several heartbeats. Vincent cringed and dropped the gun, which had never happened to him before. Stumbling and trying to keep balance he reached out to Cerberus when a heavy boot kicked it out of his sight. Vincent raised his head and his eyes met with bright blue ones of a person that was now towering above him. The stranger now got joined by the three other people. Vincent slowly looked around; every movement was bringing him terrible pain and he was afraid to loose the grasp on reality and be unable to defend himself. Another scream of Chaos made him moan and fall to his knees. The strange people did not make a single sound, they did not gloat, did not talk to each other… The only sound that could have been heard was Vincent's uneven breathing. Several seconds passed and Vincent felt the air moving, the shadow that he saw on the pavement had raised hands that were now clutching the hilt of the sword. With the great effort Vincent rolled away, making the sword collide with the ground. It was pure luck, Chaos did not stop for a single second and rolling away from multiple projectiles was not an option. As quick as he could, still clutching his chest, Vincent shuffled in the direction where his gun was pushed by one of the strangers.

All of four people slowly were walking in his direction; he could see satisfied smiles on their faces, identical smiles on completely identical faces. The light breeze was playing in their reddish hair and was twirling the folds of their crimson-red leather coats. The fierce blue eyes were softly twinkling in the darkness, such eyes Vincent had seen before. The signs of Mako infusion.

He shot, once, twice and though his hands were trembling and weak Vincent managed to hit one of the attackers. Without a single sound the bleeding man fell on the ground and almost immediately his body turned to a glowing whirlwind of the Lifestream that dissolved in the air. The situation was pure nonsense. Who were these people, what did they want from him, why were they after him?

Another attack of Chaos and Vincent felt as if he was falling on the pile of soft fluffy pillows.

"Darn… it…"

The next shot had missed its target and the Cerberus slid out of the hand of its owner, the strangers raised their swords and before Vincent fell in the deep welcoming darkness he heard the metal colliding and could swear he saw a crystal white wing beating in the air and a tall shadow sliding between him and his attackers.

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**A/N:.**Duh... Vincent cannot always be all kewl and Rambo-like. Plus Chaos is PAIN. And it seems really disturbed by the presense of several particular people.

**A/N 2:.** Mmmm... White wings... I love white wings... They are soft and fuzzy, like the wings of an angel.


	13. Angel's Dream

Gawrsh, I updated D: been busy-busy lately. With nessesary and not so stuff. Luckly today Internet connection was cut the whole day and I found myself bored so I decided finally to finish this chapter(after many rehersals, twitching of facts and new ideas) and draw some stuff that is not relevant right now :D I hope you enjoy To celebrate the update - chocolate chip cookies and hot choclate for free!

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**Angel's Dream**

Tseng settled himself down near large window that was partly shielded by crimson-red curtains. It was rather late and not a single light illuminated the house from both inside and outside. Somewhere on horizon, by his estimation it was near Midgar, the lightings were illuminating the sky. Another thunderstorm, third this week. The City of Mako was full with expensive tracking devices that Tseng and Elena carefully planted all over the place. Each of such storms would probably result in a loss of another camera or body-temperature scanner. Even though his boss had more money then he ever needed, Tseng felt responsible for every little wire that was given in his care… From electronics his thoughts softly slid down towards much more sensible subject that suddenly reminded about itself. Yuffie Kisaragi, he did not see her for quite some time. Tseng knew she had survived the Wutai war, later he found out Yuffie had joined AVALANCHE. Since that time he was monitoring her movements and doings but never approached her. Until just recently and not by his own will. Tseng did not think Yuffie will be going together with Cloud and Vincent; he was more then just surprised but managed to hide it perfectly well. Masking his real feelings and emotions was part of the job that he loved so much. Job that cost him a lot more then anyone could imagine.

His sister grew up nicely and reminded much of their father. Tseng kept wondering whether the old man was still alive and kicking. Apparently he was, otherwise she would not be here right now as with his death there would be a lot of obligations to fulfil. Marriage to announce, country to take care for… In the back of his mind there was always this feeling of guilt that, even after eleven years, kept haunting him. Tseng never questioned the path he had chosen, he stood for what he thought was true, in the beginning. And then his loyalty did not allow him to quit, even after he witnessed so much mistreating of morals and causes. Perhaps he was hoping to make things better one day. But Tseng had never wished all of responsibilities he left behind, leaving Wutai forever with no intention to return, to fall on his young sister's shoulders. Originally, the first born son of the King had to take the reign once his father would pass away. However Tseng was strongly against monarchism and his father put an ultimatum: he had a choice to stay and to do what the bloodline asks from the crown-prince or to leave and get disowned, without a single possibility of ever returning back. Everything happened really fast that day, in a matter of hours his had left his country, announced to be blood traitor and was forbidden to step on Wutai grounds ever again. He had no right to carry Kisaragi surname anymore and he could not take another one so he started to introduce himself simply as 'Tseng' leaving others pondering whether it is formal or informal way of addressing.

His musings got disturbed by a knock on the door. Tseng slowly turned around in his chair, put elbows on polished desk and crossed fingers.

"Reno, come in."

The door opened with a slight creak and red-haired Turk entered the room. He put a piece of paper on the table and slapped on it in a confirming manner.

"Here's your request, boss. 'Seventh Heaven' phone number, written in black pen, completely in line with all the regulations and so on and so on… Why do you need it anyway?"

"There is something I want to discuss with someone."

"And that someone is…" Reno stretched vowels, adding a double meaning to the sentence.

"None of your business, for now. You may leave."

Reno grumbled something in a disapproving manner and went out, closing the door a bit more louder then it was needed. Tseng had no idea what 'statement' Reno wanted to make with that gesture. Frankly speaking, he did not care. The man was a good Turk but he lacked manners and subordinance was not the word you could find in his dictionary.

He again turned in his chair so he could face the ongoing storm, flipped open his shell phone and dialled the number Reno wrote on the white piece of paper, probably with his leg. The connection was made and Tseng waited for someone to pick up. It took rather long when finally a voice interrupted the monotonous sound of waiting call.

"Yes? Who is this?" the female voice on the other side sounded uneven and worried.

"Miss Lockhart? Tseng speaking… Is something wrong?" he asked concerned as he heard Tifa's gasp.

"As the matter of fact.. Yes, yes… something is wrong. Why… Why are you phoning?"

"I wanted to speak with Cloud… Concerning the issue of the video and my personal ideas about the matter."

Tseng heard how Tifa pulled away from the phone and some other person entered the room, probably Cloud, they exchanged several phrases. There was noise on the other side of the line which suggested that she passed phone to someone else.

"Tseng?"

"Cloud? What had happened?"

There was a pause and then the man on the other side of the line sighed.

"I think you should come. As soon as possible. We have an…unusual lead on the case."

Those words still sounded in his ears when Tseng firmly knocked on the wooden door under the sign 'Seventh Heaven.' He had never been here before but Reno and Rude gave him precise directions and even volunteered to show around, which was nothing out of ordinary coming from Rude but it was quite a sacrifice from Reno's side. Tseng had to reject the invitation though; it would be faster and more efficient to go alone. One Turk was probably already too much for ex-AVALANCHE members, three of them would be a disaster.

Door flew opened and Tseng found himself nose to nose with Yuffie, who looked rather unsettled to a degree where she did not even pull that smug expression she did last time they met. She quickly looked around, grabbed Tseng's hand and pulled him inside, while slamming the door shut.

"I swear I saw him before!! That guy, he was in Wutai… During war. I though… I heard he was dead. Father really followed all that stuff. Freaky, uh?! I am dead scared to come in there, what if he is, like, mind-eating zombie creep or something?!"

For a second Tseng bathed in the illusion that nothing ever happened, Yuffie seemed to be the same thorn in the derriere, funny and word – streaming. He squeezed her shoulder a bit, in a calming way.

"In Wutai? During war?"

"One of those SOLDIER operatives. He's there, in that room. I am _not_ coming!"

Tseng shrugged his shoulders and put hand on the door handle. There were three SOLDIER operatives Shin-Ra sent to Wutai in the end of war. All of them were dead by now and he was absolutely sure Yuffie was mixing something. She was always famous for her exaggerating abilities and in fear that talent would be tripled.

He opened the door and had to shield his eyes, the light in the room was a painful contrast to the darkness in the hallway where Yuffie was hiding.

Everyone was present; most of people were sitting on a couch where Tseng saw Vincent laying with his eyes closed and breathing calmly. His sight slid over the faces of people who silently looked at him and then his attention turned to the person sitting in the furthest corner of the room. A crystal white wing was spread over the floor; it was so pure that it seemed to shine under the artificial light. The person noticed Tseng and stood up brushing the strands of black hair behind his ears while reaching out for a handshake.

"I am not sure you will remember me…" He said in soft voice. "My name is…"

Tseng carefully accepted handshake still unable to believe his own eyes. But he remembered the name, very clearly.

"… Angeal Hewley, SOLDIER, 1st Class." He finished the sentence in astonished voice, staring at the face he saw many years ago, in Mideoheim, degraded and dead.

* * *

**A/N.:** Not anything uber cliffhangerish. I bet at least half of you suspected the guy being no-one else then Angeal + I wanted to do some clarification on Yuffie's relationship with Tseng that she shared with Vince in one of previous chapters. But from Tseng's POV, because he is older and knows the true reasons :B

**A/N 2.:** Next chapter is already in the process of active brainstorming, some interesting facts may be revealed, so I hope you'll stay tuned :)


	14. That Boy

Oh my god, I've finally updated. Speaking honestly, my Writer's Block is in its peak but I want to write so... yeah... that probably why this chapter will seem to be squeezed out, dragged by legs while screaming and biting. Here, have those tomatoes to throw at me in case you do not like it, I will totally understand you :D But anyway, if you feel like it, you can even review, I always have fresh chocolate chip and milk. Peace and love. ;)

* * *

**That Boy**

"This is just… Extraordinary… I… I personally filed the report about your death in Modeoheim and I was the one to drag Zack away from you… "

Cloud kept watching Tseng, who had suddenly lost most of his self-control and kept shaking Angeal's hand while getting more and more pale with every passing second.

…_This is huge!! Oh man! Angeal is not dead! Can you imagine?? Can you?!..._

The voice suddenly hit Cloud with all its strength. Only now he had noticed that the strange sound that kept him up during nights, making him annoyed and irritated basically with everything, had disappeared.

…_Zack?..._

_... And not that he was literary dragging me away… Okay, maybe he was… I can__'t remember that part much…_

Cloud anxiously moved on his chair while still staring in front of himself and pressed palm to his forehead.

…_Zack? Answer me!..._

Slowly the alien noise that Cloud thought to be gone started to return. Bits by bits the voice of his friend was disappearing and mixing with annoying tune. Cloud growled in frustration and squeezed his fists together, making nails bury into his skin.

"What's with Vincent?" he asked, trying to distract himself from ongrowing anger. "I think that's one of the first times I see him being dragged in here like a sack of potatoes."

"Oh, about that…" answered Angeal while carefully pulling his palm out of Tseng's grasp and moving a bit away, giving the Turk some time to come to his senses. "He was attacked by five Genesis copies. However, I don't think they were looking exactly for him… Genesis made a mistake."

"Genesis copies?" asked Tifa a bit confused and looked around. She saw a slight sparkle of recognition lighting in Cloud's eyes. At the same moment she noticed that Angeal was attentively looking at blond's face as if he was trying to remember something.

"You… You are the boy who was with Zack in Shin-Ra mansion, aren't you?"

"Yes.", followed short answer in tone that Tifa immediately defined as 'trying too hard to sound indifferent'.

It wasn't really understandable why Angeal asked it since he immediately turned in Tseng's direction, without explaining the nature of his previous question. The Turk was finally able to order his thoughts and now stood still flipping his shell phone and probably wondering whether he needed to make a call to the boss right now or wait till more information would be revealed.

"So… My guesses were right. It was Genesis after all, wasn't it?" he said harshly while dropping the phone in the pocket of his suit and settling on the edge of a nearby table. "But what would Genesis want? And why? How is he planning to achieve whatever his goal is?"

Angeal now sat down in the chair he was occupying before that and absentmindedly caught a feather that fell down from his wing.

"I will try to answer those questions. I am just not sure my memory serves me right."

Cloud turned his head a bit; he seemed to be avoiding the direct eye contact with the newcomer and in general looked much more disturbed then usual. Long ago Tifa stopped wondering what was going in his head. Not that she questioned his sanity… Even though Sephiroth did work on his consciousness quite persistently. It is just that Cloud was simply refusing to let her in and listen to his troubles. Even though he knew friends would always be there for him, Cloud just did not have the will or courage to share and kept bottling up his problems.

"Let us cut to the chase." Continued Tseng since no-one else decided to interfere. "Who else was with Genesis? I have certain video evidence showing that there were three more people on the scene."

Angeal closed eyes for a second as if he would be weighting his words carefully.

"Four of us woke up in the underground complex. Genesis, Sephiroth, me and that boy." He slowly nodded in the direction of Vince, who shuddered uneasily under the sudden attentive stare of four pairs of eyes.

"I sorry, I do not remember anything…" He muffled under his breath and pulled head in his shoulders in a guilty manner while touching carefully his forehead which was still bearing bruises of the unclear origin.

SOLDIER smiled softly and crooked head a bit.

"This is understandable. You were hurt badly."

Tifa, who was all the time quietly sitting on the sofa near Vincent's still unconscious body made a humming sound of interest.

"So Vincent was that figure on the tape we saw trying to run away, right? He was the one Genesis held by the throat and then threw into the metal constructions. That's where all those bruises come from… You must have hit your head." The last phrase was addressed to Vince who again nodded slowly and continued staring in the floor.

"The interfering shadow we saw on the video must have been you then." Stated Cloud absentmindedly. "Why would you do that?"

"A funny question, really… I don't quite understand that myself." Answered Angeal sincerely while overlooking everyone and finally stopping his gaze at Vince, who was trying to pretend invisible and disappear from existence. "I do not know the reasons behind the actions of Genesis or Sephiroth, nor am I aware what they want with this boy. I just know their side is not the one I am keen to be on."

A faint grunt disrupted the flow of the conversation making everyone turn their attention to the place Vincent was resting on. Tseng moved himself from the table and carefully checked Vincent's pulse only to be eye-rolled by Yuffie, who after all this time took courage to poke her nose into the room.

"He does not have blood flow, easier to put mirror in front of his mouth to see whether he still breathes." She fired out briskly, using the moment to crack several jokes which, under usual circumstances, would bring the situation of "if eyes could kill."

"I've heard that…" whispered Vincent making Yuffie choke on her next joke and smile innocently. He slowly squeezed eyelids together and then opened eyes again, trying to sit straight. Vince grabbed him carefully under the armpits and tried to help up a bit. Vincent, however, seemed to be quite determined to do it on his own so he shoved away a helping hand.

"No need."

Tifa gave him concerned look and next second made a straight face knowing that Vincent despised any pity directed at his person.

"What had happened to you out there? Five people for you are basically nothing."

"Those were not usual people." Answered Vincent in an annoyed and tired tone.

"Is there anything special about Genesis we must know?" Tifa turned to Angeal who kept silent and watched the scene.

"He is infused with G-cells he is able to transfer his features and his will on the people and creatures around him." He dropped a pause and then continued. "Nothing that I cannot do, however I do not see your friend fainting in my presence."

A grimace of doubt crossed Vincent's face for a second but next moment he got calm again and stared through a nearby chair.

"I must have been careless. Or overconfident. In any case, that will not happen again, I can assure you."

Angeal finally stood up and looked in the window into the night.

"I am sorry, I cannot stay any longer. Either Sephiroth or Genesis have the ability to track me down somehow and I feel I better not give them a satisfaction of finding the one they seek that easily." He went out in the dark hallway but before stepping outside, turned around and gestured lazily. "Tseng, for a word, please?"

When the Turk joined the ex-SOLDIER in a dark and narrow hallway Angeal, lowered his voice a bit carefully looking through the doorway into the living room.

"I don't quite get the role of Sephiroth in all this but we both know what Genesis is capable of. He dearly wants the boy and I feel he has his reasons. Do not allow that at any cost."

"Do you have any lead?" Asked Tseng calmly eying Vince as well as the young man stood up, shuffled to the window and, after some thinking closed the curtains.

"There are blurbs of memories appearing now and then, like, for example the face of the blond guy but it gives me absolutely nothing, I might remember something later."

"Take this." Tseng slid his fingers in one of the pockets of his jacket and took out a cell phone. The second mobile device he was holding in his hand. Angeal raised an eyebrow and gave a satisfied hum.

"As pedantic as I remember. Some things never change, do they?"

Tseng did not even blink and continued in a semi-official tone while casually putting his own cell phone back in the pocket of his pants.

"It has all the necessary numbers you might need. Mine, for instance. So far the situation is unclear to me but if anything happens I want to be able to reach you at any time."

Without a word Angeal saluted and disappeared in the night. The first heavy raindrops hit the pavement. In the eerie silence of the night it sounded unnaturally loud. For a moment Tseng wondered whether he should stay or leave. The matter needed some thinking, details and leads were too obscure right now and since everyone was too busy with Vincent no-one really would notice his absence. Quietly he closed the door behind himself and ran to his car, not willing to soak under the ongoing rain.

Yuffie crawled from under the staircase she has chosen as her hiding place and stared through the window at the car lights disappearing into the darkness.

"Why would Sephiroth want Vince so badly? What _is_ his secret?" She whispered in a confused voice, listening to a raindrops playing the music of its own on the glass of the window..

* * *

**A/N.:** It may be pointless chapter, but at least we cleared out who was on the scene.(ok, I know, it's not like noone guessed, d'oh :D) Next chapter will get some more descent action, or do i hope so. can someone scare the WB away? With Dancing, bells and indian ritual? It is killing me. -_-


	15. What If

_Ladies and gents! I hope you still remember me ^^ My Writer's Block and life circumstances forced me to abandon this fic two years ago but people kept favouriting/alerting it once in a while and I remember liking the flow of the story myself, so I decided: "Let's give it a go!" and spent the whole morning catching up on the story and my previous ideas. And then I started writing(drums!) I hope that those of you, that might have waited for the continuation, will forgive me for not writing and will find it in their heart to pick up reading this fic once again :)_

_Cheers(and them tasty cookies),_

_AngelT_

* * *

**What If**

Nobody had said anything. The silence was just hanging in the air, so thick and painful you could almost touch it. Vince felt nauseated; it was as if something was suffocating him. He stood up from the sofa and stumbled towards the window, quickly opening it. He was hoping fresh air, rich with ozone after the storm, would clear his head.

So all this was not a dream… The broken capsule, the other three strangers behind the glass. He did not know any of them and yet all of them seemed to know him somehow. All he could remember was knocking on the door of the mansion several days ago, weak and wounded after escaping Hojo. But as soon as he was turning attention to this fact the contradictions within his memory, the illogical patterns of his doings were emerging and nagging to be explained. And he could not do that. God knows he tried several times before. The thought of that sterile room with those test tubes and the strip lightning somewhere under the ceiling being just a dream was the only thing that was keeping Vince together. And now the man, who Tseng identified as Angeal, took even that little thing away from him. The stranger was said to be SOLDIER. What did that even mean? As much as his newly found friends were telling him about this new world he found himself in, there were more and more questions appearing every day. Questions that needed to be resolved but did he really want to hear the answers? Every answer there was led to only two things. ShinRa and Hojo. And the more answers he got, the more he hated himself in believing that the company he dedicated his life to would make this world a better place.

"I don't know any more what to do… What am I even?", he thought he told it to himself but a few seconds later there was a hand on his shoulder and a soft soothing voice of Tifa Lockhart spoke calmly.

"Come now, Vincent… Many people with much less troublesome situations then yours is right now are wondering the exact same thing you do. In fact, I can point a bunch of people right in this room that do it on the daily basis. "

There was some commotion behind them but Vince could not see that Cloud made a worried face and the 'other' Valentine squinted dangerously at Tifa's back, sending her mental signals to stop talking.

"But, of course, those individuals will remain unknown as I can feel my back burning… Vincent."

Contrary to her promise she still mentioned the gunslinger. Cloud released a quiet sigh of relief and shot a stare at Vincent's side of the sofa. They all had their demons to fight but Vincent was the only one that did it literary.

"Just answer me one thing… Just one." Vince said sadly, bowing his head and staring at the traces the rain was leaving on the window glass. "Where did it all go wrong? When did the happy bright future turn into all this?"

Tifa pondered for a moment. She tried to be fair and not judgmental towards what she hated most of her life. One should never speak purely from the heart, it is not always right and when it is, emotions and attachments tend to blow stuff out of proportion.

"Back when you served ShinRa _Manufacturing_ it may have been that indeed. A bright future for all of us… But, in the end, every company reaches a moment in its existence when it wants more. The regular means and 'happy future' do not satisfy its needs anymore. What started as a simple preserving of an ancient race turned out to be a mass production of an army, using alien technology and the life of the planet itself for selfish purposes, denying the simple things to those who believed they were investing in the better life for them and their children."

Vince listened to Tifa's speech and a horrible weight that he was carrying on his shoulders was starting to drag him down even more. He was there, at the birth of all this and he just ran away, like a coward, letting the events unfold on their own, uncontrollably, as the greed of ShinRa and Hojo's madness grew ever stronger. He could have done something, stood up to them. Perhaps petitioned CEO to freeze the project that was inhumane to begin with? And Lucrecia… how could _she_ do it? How could _she_ sleep at night if he couldn't, knowing what atrocities she and her husband were doing 'in the name of science'?

"I need to go."

Tifa looked surprised and stepped backwards, giving him a concerned stare.

"Where will you go?"

"I don't know. Just somewhere. Clear my mind." Vince mumbled, slowly groping his way to the door. As soon as his hand landed on the door knob he almost stormed out. A second later the front door slammed loudly, scaring Yuffie, who was still apparently hiding under the stairs, into the room with the puzzled face expression.

"What bit him in the…"

"Don't finish the sentence." Shook Tifa head in a slightly disapproving manner and peaked outside the window. The rain was dying down so she had a cleared vision of the small backyard and part of the street leading from the front entrance. Vince was not there, so he probably just stayed on the porch. In light of the recent events it was a smart decision.

That's when Vincent suddenly seized lying on the sofa and abruptly stood up. Picked up his cape and almost lovingly put it on.

"I am going to get him." He was almost out of the room when Tifa grabbed his hand.

"Wait, Vincent. Give him some space, he needs it."

"No, he doesn't." was the cold and indifferent reply. "Not because I don't pity him but because I know what he is thinking about. There is no answer to the eternal 'what if' question. He will end up burdening himself even more. And believe me, nobody knows more of burdens then me. And perhaps this guy." Vincent jerked his head in Cloud's direction, who seemed to be spacing out again.

Tifa immediately let Vincent go and nodded slowly. There was truth in what he told. But she worried about Vince. Tifa tried to put herself in his situation and was failing to do so. It was hard to even imagine what must go through the head of someone who somehow seemed to jump thirty-three years ahead in time against his will.

"Just be gentle with him." She answered finally. "Remember, you are not the same. Cold logics and strangling emotions rarely work."

"I am tired of people implying I have no emotions."

"I did not imply that you…"

"I am done here."

Vincent marched out, slamming the door behind him as well. Tifa sighed and rubbed her forehead. The strange development of the situation had put everyone of the edge and she felt like a bull in a china store sometimes. A very careful bull, that just occasionally knocked down a vase or two but when that happened…

Vince was indeed standing on the porch, in the farthest and darkest corner of it. He kept staring into the dark, completely absorbed into his thoughts and thus not noticing Vincent until they were almost face to face. Vincent pondered how to start the conversation. Tifa's remark, while being stingy, was not so far away from the truth. He rarely cared about what other people thought of his comments, as long as the point got across. He always gave his words a careful thought but he was not the one to sweeten the bitter pill. However in this case… He could relate. He knew what his 'twin' was thinking about. Something that had been on Vincent's mind since the moment he had been rudely woken up in the basement of an old mansion and till this very day. No matter how much he tried to forget about the whole ordeal that made him what he is… He could not. He kept searching the answer for the foolish 'what if' question and there was none. But he had time to think about it and Vince didn't. Suddenly all of this was dumped on man's head in a matter of days. Vincent figured it _could _be quite emotionally crushing.

"Perhaps I can help you to find _your_ answer."

Vince turned his face in surprise; he did not expect anyone to come after him. Especially Vincent. More so to offer help on something he thought he knew about.

"I am sorry but how would you know what is bothering me?" the question came out more cynical then he intended it to be but Vince felt mentally exhausted he just wanted to bang his head on the wall and pass out. Preferably without waking up with one and the same question spinning in his head day and night.

"I know you. It might be difficult to believe in, but up to the point where you ran away from Hojo we were one and the same. You wonder 'What if I stayed and fought instead of running away like a coward? What if I confronted them right there, forced to abandon the experiment?'"

Vince's eyes became wider as he listened to the man in front of him talking. He tried to say something but just inhaled deeply and made even weirder face, making Vincent chuckle lightly.

"My questions are unanswered and hardly ever be, I imagine." Valentine paused and smiled sadly, while closing his eyes for a second. "But I can live with that. However you, Vincent, have an opportunity to know what would happen and whether your choice was all that wrong."

Vince clutched his hands together so tightly his knuckles got tight. He just stood there, head bowed down, like a dog that someone had beaten with the stick. It had crossed Vincent's mind that he may never ask. Too scared to know Vince will want to bathe in the illusions of his own, safer ones, where he could make a difference. As the time had passed and the man said nothing, Vincent decided he gave him a fair chance and so he just started to walk towards the backyard.

"No… Wait! Tell me the answer."

Very conveniently the desperate call had caught Vincent in the spot light that weak moon was casting from behind thinning rain clouds. In the back of his mind the remains of his sense of humor suggested it will add some dramatic effect to what will follow.

"You would do your best to reason with them, they would not listen. Lucrecia would not listen. As the experiment would progress you would get more and more enraged and would decide to confront Hojo. You would argue, he would shoot you in cold blood and you would become just one more of his sick experiments. You would hate yourself, would want to die but you would not be able to. And there would always be that small painful 'what if' question feeding on your mind, robbing you of whatever peace you manage to find." Vincent paused and gave Vince a long stare, trying to read what was going on in young man's head. Judging by the almost white face with widely opened eyes and a hand clutching on a neat tie so hard as if he wanted to strangle himself Vince was probably drawing a blank mixed with a vague feeling of horror that was growing stronger by the second. "Here is your answer. It changed nothing but me. The useless sacrifice in which I lost everything and gained nothing. It is up to you to decide whether what you did was as bad as you think it was."

The door closed behind Valentine, leaving Vince in a half-comatose state, trying to digest everything he had just heard. He thought running away was the worst thing he could do, that he betrayed everything he ever worked for. But did he really? What Vincent had told him… That _he_ fought, _he_ tried to make a difference and yet the world still ended up the way it is, with one more broken and tortured soul in it.

"Rotten to the core… He was… He…" Vince wheezed in a strange mixture of horror and fury, grabbing his stomach as he felt a wave of sickness rippling through his body. "Infected her!"

Young man slowly crawled down the wall and settled down on the cold wooden floor closing his eyes and trying to bring his head in order and trying to get rid of nauseating feeling in his stomach. Carefully he pulled the torn piece of bloody bedspread he had found in Vincent's room out of his pocket.

"What have he done to us…"

* * *

**A/N:.** This chapter came out rather angsty and dramatic. I honestly can't remember what was I planning to write two years ago, so I just went with the flow of logical outcomes after reading the fic the whole morning. Would I be Vince and get all this dumped on my head I'd throw a tantrum as well, no questions asked, lol.


	16. The Lilies

_Yay, I updated again ^^ I love how I always do all that carefull plotting of what to write and then I start writing and the story takes all kinds of turns that I did not plan to put in the first place. . Hope you enjoy nevertheless._

_Cheers,_

_AngelT_

* * *

**The Lilies**

Vince did not want to see anyone and so he went straight to bed as he left the porch, creeping down the hallway scared that someone might pop up and offer him their condolences about the whole ordeal or ever worse, trying to say something kind. He was not in a mood for pleasantries and would probably snap at the good-doer, making the matters only more difficult for himself and convincing people he is an anti-social weirdo.

His bed was neatly done and a set of pajamas was lying on top of the crisp white sheets. Tifa, probably, took her time to get up here while he was talking to Vincent. Ignoring the nicety of the hostess he angrily shoved the blanket and everything with it on the floor, opened the window for some fresh air and yanked the curtains closed. Without even taking his boots off Vince dropped on the bed and tried to force himself to sleep. Either that or think about what had happened and what Vincent told him. Vince felt that if he starts replaying this whole thing in his head it might just explode. He felt his eyelids getting heavier by the minute; the sleeping hour was finally upon him. A salvation from all the troubles as only in sleep one can forget his problems. At least for a while. Then again, there were dreams… The mirror of your soul, shoving everything right in your eyes when you are least capable to do anything about it. Half-asleep Vince grunted and turned away from the window, slapping a pillow on his head in order to deafen the nagging consciousness that, at the moments like this, always seemed to have the voice of his father.

Even though the house was quiet and everyone was in their rooms the silence was in no way peaceful. Like Vince, the rest of the people were fighting their inner demons just the same.

Yuffie sat on the windowsill, wrapped up in her blanket as the gusts of autumn wind were quite chilly. She was staring in the darkness and in the direction of where she thought was Midgar and the small lounge Rufus and his crew called home. Of course, she'd known for a while that Tseng was with the Turks. She had even seen him from afar, occasionally. Somehow, in the back of her mind, Yuffie always knew Tseng kept tabs on her. It came with his profession and… Perhaps it came with being an older brother. She was just a toddler when he left but the pieces of scattered memories still were safely kept in her mind all those years. Being a royalty meant having a lot of nannies and servants to do your bidding. Even if the only bidding of a kid was to throw a ball in the gardens. However she could clearly remember that Tseng was the one tossing that ball to her in the shade of the old trees in the royal gardens. He also read to her from time to time. Yuffie remembered the feeling of being happy when he took some time off to play with her: the life of the crown prince was a busy one, after all. There was something… that nagging feeling as if she had forgotten something important. Yuffie closed her eyes and tried to re-create the memories of more than the decade ago as good as she could.

The garden was all dressed up in green. It was spring, the most beautiful time in Wutai. When the wind carries the sweet aroma of the cherry blossoms and the ground is covered in green silk with many small and sweet-smelling flowers.

"I have to go, kitten."

"More ball!"

"Maybe later, Yuffie."

Dressed in a traditional kimono in the colors of black and crimson he stood up and smiled at her. But the eyes stayed the same: sad and determined.

That was the day Tseng had _that_ conversation with their father. He left at night, not taking anything with him but the clothes he wore that day.

President ShinRa probably had a good laugh when a person in that attire appeared at his doorstep and requested a job. She learned to hate him just as father demanded and on her own accord. Suddenly life of a second child got turned around and instead of enjoying happy existence she had to take on a role of a future successor. But that face… No, not the face, the eyes. They were always filled with sadness. Yuffie did not realize it before, as she did not want to think about her brother (and she still wouldn't, was it not for them meeting face to face just a day earlier) but he hated his life. He wanted to escape but probably never had the courage before. The little free time he had Tseng spent with his younger sister, watching her frolicking carelessly and, perhaps just for a little while, forgetting about his own ball and chain that were constantly dragging him down. Yuffie wondered if he realized that by gaining the freedom he yearned for, Tseng forever changed the life of one person that used to love him unconditionally.

The girl crawled down on the floor, slipped as she stepped on the folds of her improvised poncho but managed to safely land on the bed. Of course, would anyone see her it would turn up to be an awesome new technique of 'Two Flying Dragons'.

They will talk alright. It will take Yuffie some time to gather courage and speak with her brother after all those years but when she does he'll regret he ever addressed her directly in that car.

"Dammit!" hissed Cloud and rubbed his forehead vigorously. Perhaps hitting himself in order to get rid of the white noise was a bad idea. But he tried literary everything. The white noise was robbing him of the rest and sleep. He felt like a zombie, semi-automatically making it through the day and only partly registering everything that was going on around him. Cloud felt it was important but he had no-one to turn to. The only two people who could shed the light on this problem were inaccessible, blocked by the noise. And complaining to Tifa would not do any good. She'd just get worried and hyped up but would not be able to do a thing. Apparently Sephiroth was back, this could be one of the reasons for his headache. But that had never happened before; Cloud used to have occasional dizzy spells when he had heard _his_ calling and even that was nothing but a product of Geostigma. Aeris and Zack, they would definitely help. They knew the things none of others did but… Cloud suddenly looked up and straightened his back. Perhaps that was the case. Whatever that new thing that looked like Sephiroth was, it was interfering with the course of Lifestream. That would not be the first time. Whether it was with the shady purpose or not only his friends could tell and he could not reach them. Perhaps that was Sephiroth's plan all along? To block the only help Cloud could get and catch everyone by surprise?

"Great. Have it _all_ figured out, haven't you? Now what?" Talking to himself was a bit of a habit now, luckily he still did not do it in public otherwise people would be finally convinced he was missing some screws. "It's a start, I just have to wait and see. And keep trying to talk to them. "

He put the pillow more comfortable and started to settle down for a sleep. More like some sort of trance state he'd learned to call 'sleep' since the whole trouble with the noise and headaches started.

An endless field. As far as his eyesight could reach there was grass. And flowers. Beautiful flowers that looked like lilies. But there were no sky and no trees. It seemed as if he was standing in the mist but yet he could see everything with a crystal clear clarity. But he was not alone, he just felt it because there was no-one around. But someone… or something just passed by like a gust of wind. Wind that smelled like freshly cut flowers. He turned around, several times even, just be sure that whoever was here does not play tricks on him. But it seemed there was nobody here.

_My imagination plays tricks on me._

"Does it really?"

The voice, he could define who it belonged to, in fact it was just a sentence that somehow formed itself within his head.

"Who is there?" he called out, trying to control the panic bubble that was slowly rising from his guts to his throat, ready to explode.

"He does not see you. It's too early."

"But the time is slipping away…"

"You can't force this; he has to do it on his own."

The nonexistent sound of a bubble popping somewhere in his head. He slowly started to walk backwards, eyes wide and still scanning the field for any sign of life. He was so absorbed by own fear that somehow managed to trip and fall with his back in this endless strange flowerbed.

Vince jumped up on the bed, hair sticking to the face that was drenched in the cold sweat. It took him a while to realize that he was not in that field with disembodied voices. It was, of course, a change from waking up with a sick feeling in a stomach after every new Hojo dream but not necessarily a good one. He felt shocked and scared. Because it felt so very real. Dreams… They reflect your memories, impressions of the world. Vince could not remember ever seeing that place or hearing those voices. Voices that did not even had a sound. With an effort he shoved his legs to the floor and had only now realized that he had been clutching something in his left hand. Even though it was light outside Vince had trouble to concentrate and so he brought the open palm close to his eyes. A half opened flower bud of a white lily, just like the ones that were on that field from his dreams. Vince jumped up and stared it horror at the thing he was clutching in his hand. Without a word he dropped it on the floor and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him so loud the old wood made a sad creaking sound.

Gracefully the bud landed on the floor and a second later its outlines became blurred as the petals, one by one, started to turn into bright blue lines of pure energy – Lifestream itself.

Vince, meanwhile, had just arrived downstairs, but not before he quickly visited bathroom to splash some ice cold water in his face and try to give himself an overall presentable look. This was quite difficult without a comb or ironing board. Vince looked as if he had been sleeping on a bench in some park.

Everyone had already gathered downstairs, not only that but the little inn was graced with the presence of Tseng, who also brought a heap of blueprints with him. People were completely absorbed in watching the schematics, so Vince greeted them quietly. He felt like a slacker that slept through the important meeting. Tseng was the first to react.

"Ah, Mr. Valentine. It is good to see you had finally decided to come downstairs."

"Nobody woke me up; I did not know there was whole morning meeting…"

Tifa brushed the hair out of her face with one hand and made an apologetic gesture with another one.

"I'm sorry, thought you could do with some rest."

"I'm… fine." Vince squeezed out trying his best to make it believable and realizing none of them would fall for that.

"Now then." Said Tseng softly and turned his attention to the plans. "This is all Reeve had on him. After all, the majority of ShinRa property burned down together with the headquarters. We can only guess where this laboratory is. The building had a vast underground structure. Or course, most of it turned out to be made for Deepground but …" he pointed at something on one of the blueprints. "There is still a lot of unused space. Professor Hojo used to have a very big authority and many times did as he pleased. For all we know he may have 'acquired' the rights for some of the unused space. In fact, I am almost sure of it. I had to deal with the mess that man had been making many times before."

"It must be not far away from the surface." Vincent decided to interfere as well. "Otherwise Vince would never make it to the surface, seeing he was pursued by Sephiroth."

"Not to mention Genesis." Remarked Tseng politely. "Some of you may remember seeing him on one occasion or the other." Not getting any confirmation of his words the Turk simply continued. "In the nutshell, Genesis was the one who shaped the world as it is today. His actions touched everyone. Even though we never had definite proof but I am inclined to think the fall of Sephiroth was his doing as well."

"It's history." Said Cloud curtly, he obviously did not want to go deep into the subject. Vince could only guess he was one of those somehow involved in the incidents with Genesis.

"President ShinRa proposed for your team to do a field expedition. We will provide the necessary equipment and weapons but seeing as we are sponsoring your operation President would like me to join your ranks for this mission to both assist you and supervise the progress."

"Not like I did not expect Rufus to snoop around." Said Yuffie from the furthest corner of the room. She did not participate in the overall discussion and just listened, giving Tseng an evil eye from time to time. "And send one of his jesters along. "

"Charming, Yuffie." Tseng answered with the smile, waving her sarcasm away. "Elena and Reno will deliver the equipment and the transportation soon enough… And no, they will not join us. Our boss understands quite well that presence of so many of his operatives will not make you work any more efficient."

Vince just stood there, in a middle of all that bickering, and felt a bit alone. All of them, even Vincent, who tended to alienate himself from the group, were still tied together with invisible threads of many kinds. Only he seemed to be standing in some sort of a vacuum, not surrounded by anyone and not gravitating towards anything. Of course, he did not take it too close to the heart, after all, the connections that were made between all those people, whether friends or foes, took years to create. He, himself, only now had begun the path down their road.

"Wake up, Tifa's going to serve breakfast for everyone." Vincent's voice startled him and young man nodded and followed Yuffie, who was one of the last to leave the room still obviously avoiding the ShinRa executive.

* * *

**A/N:.** Hmm... Cloud is finally figuring smth out. It's about time too! And Vincent dreams about really weird stuff. Not to mention the strange flower bud. It's a madhouse. Also, it brings me joy to imagine Yuffie's and Tseng's past.


	17. Of Guns, Girls and Dreams

_Ugh, I feel like this chapter sucks a lot, for some reason. I had it planned for a month or so but it just did not want to be written. And it acted the same as I started writing today. But the girl gotta update, ya know? ;) So, hopefully, it's not über bad. Might contain helluva mistakes though(but I did comb through it three times, lol). Still, hope you'll enjoy it regardless and I'll be happy to hear what you think, as always._

_And cookies! :3_

_Cheers and love,_

_AngelT_

* * *

**Of Guns, Girls and Dreams**

They were just about done with the delicious breakfast that Tifa had prepared for them when a noise outside made Yuffie jerk the small white curtains on the window aside and take a peek, while still chewing on her food. The view made her choke and cough loudly. Vince, who just happened to sit next to her, gave the girl several pats on the back and when that did not seem to work, integrated into his life-saving repertoire a strong smack. Yuffie's teeth clanked together but the problem seemed to disappear, and thus Vince got away only with an angry stare of hurt pride. And, possibly, teeth.

"When you've said you will be bringing 'equipment' I figured it would be… Well… dunno. Guns? Climbing ropes?" Yuffie glared at Tseng, who had politely put his knife down and glanced out of the window as well. One could see a sign of approval in his face, if he or she was attentive enough. Tseng had never put too much faith in Reno or Elena. The first one was a bit too lazy and the second one loved to talk about work related things to complete strangers and later felt bad about it. That's why Reno always had Rude by his side and Elena went with Tseng. It was the most efficient way to keep them both on the short leash and encourage productivity. However, due to the recent events, Tseng had decided to appoint Rude as Rufus's personal bodyguard, since Tseng himself could not always be available. That left Reno and Elena, a dangerous combination, and Tseng feared that even such a simple task he had given them might turn out into a disaster of giant proportions. He was glad to be wrong. At least from the outside the armored vehicle, much like the ones WRO was using, looked intact and working.

"Equipment is a broad term, Yuffie. Anything we need. _Anything_." He made a clear accent on the last word. Probably it was not the smartest idea, as Yuffie immediately picked up on that. It seemed his young sister wanted to irritate him out of his mind, for whatever reason she had.

"Oooh… So even the bad-ass type mako grenade launcher of doom?"

Tseng did not expect her attempts to be so petty and childish and he furrowed brow in slight annoyance.

"We… never even developed anything like that."

"Says you."

"Says the information that I…" Tseng started to get more irritated with every sentence she said. But he refused to get angry at the childish rivalry his sister tried to bring up in him. He stood up and smiled politely at Tifa, who was already being busy cleaning the dishes off the table. "The breakfast was most delightful but now, if you excuse me, I have to check on my colleagues outside."

Yuffie watched him go and victoriously crossed hands on her chest.

"Ha! Saw that? Can get to him if I want to."

Vince looked at her from the corner of his eyes. He alone knew her secret but even with that knowledge he did not approve of her behavior. Then again, as the only son to his father, Vince knew nothing of the connections and rivalry siblings could form at the different points in their lives.

"What are you trying to achieve?" he whispered to her so that none of the other people would overhear them. He bowed close to Yuffie's ear, parts of his fringe tickling her cheek. Yuffie flushed for a second but did not move away. True ninja shows no embarrassment… of any kind.

"I'll make him show his colors, that's what." She whispered back, still trying to scare away the treacherous flush off her cheeks. Luckily Vince seemed completely oblivious to her struggles.

"Why not just talk?"

"You are the one asking me that?"

That hurt. Vince knew perfectly well what Yuffie had implied. Why didn't he confront Hojo? Maybe because that man and 'reason' could not co-exist in one universe? Vincent was brought up to believe in people, give them benefit of the doubt even in the gravest of situations. But somehow even he sensed that talking to Professor Hojo would be in-vane. He tried an easier target - Lucrecia. He was hoping she would see the reason but that never worked out either. The feeling of being trapped and the fear that Hojo will see him as a threat and make him 'disappear' held Vincent every second he had spent within the walls of the ShinRa mansion. That's why he decided to escape. Somehow return to Midgar and inform the authorities of what was going on in Niebelheim. Because Vincent was not sure anymore that_ this_ was a part of the original Jenova Project at all.

He pulled back swiftly, color leaving his cheeks and eyes becoming darker as the memories of his time alongside Hojo flooded his mind once again. Yuffie had noticed the change and bit her lip. She did not want to remind him of his own failures but the situation with her brother was so frustrating she was getting careless with her words.

"Listen… I am sorry; I am just so very frustrated with my own stuff I talk without thinking."

"Catch that chance, Vincent, Yuffie seem to be apologizing." Calm hoarse voice made both Vince and Yuffie raise their heads just to see Vincent being the last one at the table. Apparently he was casually listening on their conversation without making his presence known. Of course, if would not be that difficult to notice him, would the two people in front of him be less absorbed in their dramas.

"Vincent Valentine, were you listening?" exclaimed Yuffie, more surprised than angry. She knew that Vincent had some nasty habits; his most annoying one is to pretend being completely taken by his own thoughts, while carefully perceiving everything that was going on around him.

"I just happened to be nearby." He answered slowly. Yuffie could swear that if Vincent were to gloat it would be just about now. The eavesdropper in question stood up and, without adding anything to his previous statement, marched out.

Vince, meanwhile, came to realize he was sitting perhaps a bit too close to Yuffie. He could almost feel all his blood re-directing itself to his cheeks. Before that could happen he quickly shimmied to the end of the bench, jumped up and headed towards the exit.

"Yuffie, you… you coming?" he mumbled suddenly getting shy for some reason. He saw her nod; that was a satisfying enough answer for Vince so he just pushed the doorknob down and stepped outside into the autumn sun.

A small blond-haired woman in Turk uniform was the first one to notice Vince and she came forward, outstretching hand in a greeting. She smiled warmly and brushed one short strand behind her ear.

"I don't think we've met. I'm Elena, of the Turks."

"Vincent Valentine… of the Turks."

Elena's eyes slid over his face and she quickly turned to the direction where she clearly remembered seeing the 'other' Valentine. Vince could only assume that Tseng either did not inform her or she had forgotten. The reaction that followed was a pretty clear confirmation of that suspicion.

"Oh… oh! I am sorry; I've… got confused for a second. Nice meeting you, Vincent. Are the Turks everything you thought it to be when you've joined all those years back?" Elena was trying to be nice and was making a small chatter, not realizing how strange her last question sounded.

"Well… I can't say for sure as the Turks, so it seems, consist of four people. We used to be much… bigger." Answered Vince a bit hesitantly. Elena gasped and covered her mouth, looking rather guilty.

"We… Our numbers had regressed rapidly in the recent years. We are the only known surviving members. Many went M.I.A many years ago and were never found. " She smiled sadly. Clearly the past events left a distinguished mark on her soul.

_Just like on the souls of everyone around her, including me._

Elena, meanwhile, dragged Vince, who was thinking about something else and not cooperating very much towards the vehicle. Tseng and Reno were inside going over the list of items that were supposed to be brought to this location. So far it seemed like both Turks did well as Tseng's face expression could be interpreted as just about satisfied. Elena sighed with relief. She never liked to get at her boss's bad side but even though she could finally claim to be an experienced Turk operative, she still frequently messed things up. Mostly because of the nerves and the feeling of responsibility.

"Here, we brought weapons, standard ShinRa model. No-one seems to want to take them but I think you might want to take a look."

There was some strange and amusingly pleading intonation in her voice. Vince thought that maybe she was so eager because she tried to make atonements. But Cloud, Vincent and the others were not very eager to accept any apologies from ShinRa and, perhaps, Elena was extremely happy there was suddenly a fourth party that would not judge as quickly.

Vince nodded at her and reached out to pick up one of the guns Elena and her partner brought up with them in an armored van. Whether by sheer luck or intuition he grabbed a massive three barreled gun out of the pile and examined it. Checked for ammo, flipped it in his hands again… it felt good.

"When I escaped from Niebelheim I, err, lost my gun." Admitted Vincent shamefully, starting to feel blood pulsing in his cheeks and ears again. That was never easy admitting you lost something as important for your work and self-defense as a gun. "I got a substitution from Vincent but this one feels just about right." He aimed the gun at Elena, for a second, making her squeak and move out of harm's way. "It's a bit lighter though. A modified model of SRL- 56A?"

Elena nodded enthusiastically. She loved firearms but at one point of her life had decided not to use them, concentrating on martial arts instead. Still, she knew quite a lot about the subject.

"We're done." Tseng appeared behind them, making Elena jump nervously and give him a salute. He smiled curtly and waved it away, turning his face to Vince instead.

"All that are coming had boarded the vehicle. We're waiting for you, Mr. Valentine."

"My apologies, I was choosing a suitable gun."

Tseng gave Vince's choice a quick inspection and nodded in approval.

"Ah, SRL-59F. Good choice. I see you like them old and reliable."

"SRL series were assigned to the Turks during my time there. It feels natural."

"Whatever makes you shoot better." Responded Tseng and turned his attention to Elena, who was standing nearby, eating her superior with puppy-eyed glares. Most of them of the different kind that subordinates usually give to their boss. Tseng, however, either did not notice or did not want to notice. "You and Reno are staying here. I assume the President had informed you about that. We know there are Genesis copies and we don't want this place come to harm."

"Understood!" exclaimed Elena happily and saluted again. She, then, waved vigorously to Reno, who was partly hanging from the door of the car and taking to someone inside. The guy, so it seemed, gave the last passionate remark and de-attached himself from the vehicle, casually strolling towards Elena. The two of them said goodbye to their boss, eyed Vince for a while and began walking in the direction of the Seventh Heaven's entrance.

There was plenty of space inside but surprisingly few seats. Vince could only guess all the emptiness was meant for transporting pieces of large machinery or big weapons. Vincent was sitting on the passenger's seat near Tseng who would be their driver for today. Cloud had occupied the small bench right behind the small separation from the driver's cabin. That left the only free bench near Yuffie. Vince closed the armored door behind him and stalled for a bit, unsure what to do. He was scared that if they sit close together again, he'll start blushing like a schoolgirl. But really, what impression he'll create by sitting on the floor? Mentally tearing his hair out for being such a coward Vince had finally settled down on Yuffie's bench, as far away from her as possible. The next moment Tseng had started the engine. The sound of it was so deafening at first that Yuffie had closed her ears, cringing, and Vince could swear he felt an eardrum popping. But soon the loud roar turned to a quiet murmur and the car started moving. Vince, still trying not to look in Yuffie's direction, settled down in the corner and closed his eyes. He remembered the previous ride taking quite long and right now he felt exhausted for some reason.

Before he had realized the quiet sound of the car rolling through the wastelands turned into soft gusts of wind and he found himself standing on the same endless field with soft and sweet smelling lilies. He panicked and looked around being ready to hear strange voices in his head again. But nothing of that sort had happened. Instead, on the other side of the field he saw a figure, sitting amongst the flowers. Vince called out to the second person but he seemed to be too far away to be heard and the gusts of wind took the words away. The young man rushed forward, constantly keeping his eyes fixed on the mysterious figure. As he was coming closer the silhouette was becoming more and more recognizable. Vince stopped at his tracks and rubbed his forehead. He was confused and could not understand what this person was doing here. Granted, Vince could not understand what he himself was doing here either.

"Cloud!" he had finally called out, hoping for a reaction. None came. It is as if he did not hear him. Vince came a bit closer, as close as he dared. After all, it was just a dream and the person in front of him could turn into anything… He called again and this time there was a reaction. Cloud had jerked his head upwards and to the side, staring with wide-open eyes. Vince gasped in shock as he stared in the person's face. It almost seemed as if his irises were covered in some strange sort of mist. For a lack of better word Vince figured out it looked like cataracts. Cloud stood up as abruptly as he reacted on Vince's call. With the arm outstretched, like a blind man he made a step forward.

"Who… Who's there?"

But before Vince could answer, Cloud's figure distorted in a static-like fashion and disappeared, leaving astonished Vincent alone and clueless.

"You've came."

"I told you he would."

"Stop! Stop this now!" Vince yelled out in frustration, madly looking around the place. Someone was toying with him and he felt sick and tired being here alone with strange shadows and ghosts. "Either show yourselves or stop playing games with me and _just leave me alone!_"

The male voice laughed. Whoever it was, he sure was enjoying himself.

"You know how to pick them."

"We can't show ourselves to you, you need to _want _to see us, Vincent."

"I do want!"

"Well, if you did you would see that we are, basically, standing face to face."

Vince made a chocking sound and tried to push, whatever was in front of him, away. His fingers had only met the air and he had almost lost his balance, making the male voice chuckle all the same.

"Or not. I love this stuff."

"Zack." The female said in a slightly scolding tone. The type you use on a puppy that ate your favorite newspaper just before you've managed to get to the cartoon section. "Just concentrate… Concentrate on what you want the most."

Her calming and soothing voice made Vince relax and he closed his eyes. He wanted to know who they are and ask what were they doing here and why was he here. But in order to do that he first needed to _see_ them or they won't tell anything… Vince quickly opened his eyes just to see two dark silhouettes standing not far away from him. A male and a female, judging by what he knew and what he saw: the height and the outlines of their figures. The picture had suddenly become unfocused and Vince felt the dream slipping away. He tried to hold onto it but the ephemeral field with the flowers had disappeared, leaving the darkness behind.

Yuffie watched him sleep. The fact that it was, somehow, that Vincent Valentine, the one who was discovered sleeping in the coffin in the underground basement was still amusing her to no end. This one seemed so human. So normal. No cold exterior... Nothing of that sort. As he slept there, in a corner, he looked so peaceful and child-like that Yuffie caught herself on the thought of finding him extremely cute. And since Cloud was out cold as well, no-one would see her shamelessly gawking at Vince, so she just sat there and admired him quietly. Suddenly she thought she had heard him muttering something. Yuffie bowed a bit closer, hoping he might repeat himself again. Her ears were always open for new information. Or a juicy gossip.

Vince gasped and had suddenly opened his eyes. For a second Yuffie could swear she saw a tint of bright blue light flash in them but it could be just her imagination. His face was inches away from hers but he did not seem to realize that.

"Who is Zack?"

* * *

**A/N:.** Now, Zack, you're just being mean. And hmm... is there something starts blooming between Vince and Yuffie? :D


	18. The Encounter

_Holymother of everything, I've updated. I know, it is probably not very good but I've been really busy this past year leaving me with no energy to write(or do on that matter) anything for myself. The chapter kind of wrote itself as I had only a bunch of sentences written about what happens in the end and tho whole beginning just... happened, haha. Anyways, hope you enjoy and again, sorry for not updating for so long. No beta, as usual, so bear with me ;)  
_

_Cheers,_

_AngelT_

* * *

**The Encounter**

Yuffie pulled back, eyes wide in fear. For a person who liked to take people by surprise and scare the living hell out of them, she sure did not like the same kind of treatment directed at her gentle persona.

"Zack? I… No clue! In the name of Gaia, stop staring!" she elbowed Vince away, who was still coming to his senses. He was covered in sticky cold sweat and seemingly had trouble to get out of whatever nightmare he had. That's when Cloud jumped towards them and grabbed Vince's shoulder, sinking fingers so deep, Yuffie could swear she heard the fabric of Valentine's suit tear. Or perhaps it was just her overly vivid imagination. She could never tell for sure.

"Did you say 'Zack'?"

Vince nodded weakly and rubbed his forehead, trying to wipe off the sweat with his sleeve. Cloud handed him handkerchief of a questionable cleanness, Yuffie thought that perhaps he used it to polish his sword. She hoped that was the case, however her imagination had already wandered off, making her face change a palette of expressions.

"I saw him, in my dream… There was a woman too." Vince cringed and rubbed his temples. "I am sorry, it sounds like a total nonsense."

"I would not say that." Right now Cloud looked much saner then he was in a while, almost his old sulky self. "How would you know the name? No-one openly speaks of him… His fate is a cross many people here bear. Willingly or otherwise."

Vince straightened his back and stood up. The vehicle moved so softly he had no problem keeping his balance and the ceiling was high enough to stand straight. He started pacing up and down, occasionally throwing gloomy stares at the panel that separated the driver seat from the cargo compartment.

"So who is… was he?"

"My only friend. He saved my life and died to protect it. He was a SOLDIER, just like Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal, that white-winged man that paid us a visit." Cloud gave Vince another piercing stare and a young man could swear that for a split second he saw a shadow of a laughter sparkle in those crystal - blue eyes. "And saved your ass, it seems. My memory of those days is very fuzzy but… he died. I saw it with my own eyes. But it just seems that…" Cloud fell silent.

"He never really left." Vince finished the sentence. Back in his Turk days it was his duty to know what people were up to. He took his job seriously and spent many hours talking to scientists and reading their research. Back then the phenomenon of the Lifestream was in the early stages of researching and some of the scientists had created a hypothesis regarding the afterlife. They theorized, that while some souls simply merge together in a giant energy flow that circulates the planet, some may continue to dwell outside it, for whatever reasons they had. Unfinished business, inability to let go… However they might have not been able to manifest themselves on the regular existense plain without some sort of conduit. Many scientists believed in that conduit being Lifestream-sensitive Cetra. "Whatever was the reason.. He might have stayed behind, in that endless field of flowers."

There was all of a sudden some sort of relief painted all over Cloud's face. It seems Vince was telling something no-one else could ever truly believe in.

"He stayed there for Aeris. And for us. They both watch and guide us when they can. But now… I can't hear them anymore and it drives me crazy… I feel like I am missing an important piece of a puzzle."

Vince pet Cloud on a shoulder. He felt a bit uneasy to talk about his weird dreams with people he met just a while ago but he could see the pain and tension leaving the man in front of him. Cloud needed that talk but he had nobody to talk to, no-one would really understand and the best response he would get would be a hug and a sad smile, with an offer to get to bed a tad bit earlier, in order to 'sleep it all off.'

"They are fine, this is all I can tell and sometimes… Sometimes guiding is overrated." With that the conversation was over and everyone took their designated places, avoiding each other's glances. Vince remembered the strange flower bud he woke up clutching in his fist. When he calmed down a bit and came back to the room it was gone, as if it was never even there. Vince was not sure if he dreamt it but something about the whole situation made him feel uneasy. He shivered and tucked his hands in the pockets, his fingers still feeling the ghostly touch of the soft petals.

The panel between the driver's seat and cargo compartment was sound proof and thus neither Tseng, nor Vincent had heard the commotion. They were driving in total silence but both were perfectly fine with it. There were many thoughts on Tseng's mind as he watched the dusty road ahead of them, with heavy storm clouds gathering above. He had finally turned to Vincent just to see the man looking back at him.

"I can see you want to say something."

"Bravo, Mr. Valentine." Tseng smiled politely. "I am interested to know about your opinion on this whole matter."

"It is not much. The time taught me not to draw any conclusions beforehand."

"And yet…"

"And yet. For his sake I hope he lives. His innocence, his opinions and perspectives on things… I used to be just like that, those were the days I still could feel.. When I _wanted_ to feel. I am nothing but a shell but he… he has potential. However this endeavor turns out I will make sure we will all make the right choices."

Tseng furrowed his brow but did not take eyes off the road.

"So you expect this to take a turn for the worse?"

"I always expect that." Answered Vincent calmly, his crimson eyes looking at the windshield that was traced with watery lines from the first heavy raindrops that fell from the sky. "And I prefer to be pleasantly surprised. Sadly, as of recent, it does not happen much."

The outlook Vincent had was not much different from what going on in Tseng's head. Of course, the debate about which Vincent would deserve to live was not for him to wage but the grim feeling in his stomach would not go away. This whole affair can yet turn very ugly, given the chance. He wanted to ask something else but the next second something slid by the door. The road was not moster-safe, however even the most vicious things stayed hidden in such weather. The Turks studied their behavior before launching explorations in the ruins of Midgar. That place was crawling with all kinds of fauna. A dull thud on the top of the truck made him jerk head upwards.

"Keep driving, I will check it out."

Before Tseng could even give an answer, Vincent opened the door and gracefully slid out, unholstering Cerberus as he, in one swift pull, disappeared out of sight.

Whatever was on the roof was gone. Vincent saw the shadow with his periphery vision, just like Tseng did and two pairs of eyes cannot be wrong. And then it overcame him, the pain was so intense it seemed to pulsate in every vein, every single corner of his body. It was emitting in ongoing waves from his heart, where Protomateria was safely tucked away, ensuring his survival and the survival of all the horrors that lived within it. Gasping for air he fell on one knee. The source of his pain, a tall figure in what seemed to be a red coat (though by now everything Vincent was seeing seemed to have red tint to it), descended next to him.

A strange feeling of anxiety had all of a sudden flooded whole Vince's being. The feeling was so overwhelming that the young man felt as if he was suffocating. In a desperate attempt to catch some air he ripped at his tie but the thing would not budge. Vince jumped up, his eyes focused on the small hatch in the corner of the rectangle that was the cargo hold. Both Cloud and Yuffie were saying something to him; he was just loud and she was basically shrieking on top of her lungs but pulsating feeling in Vince's ears prevented him from understanding what they were saying. He jumped on the bench, forced the small hatch open and looked out, a gust of wind blowing his hair out of his face.

Two slim fingers grabbed Vincent under the chin and lifted his head upwards. The man had the same face like the ones in Edge… Genesis copies. Was this a copy as well or did the real ex-SOLDIER had finally decided to show himself on the battlefield, something that was only reserved for his peons. The touch of the fingers brought more pain, Chaos inside Vincent screaming and twisting in agony.

"You look like him but you are clearly not." A note of disappointment was heard in 'Genesis's' voice. "It does not matter, I will take you with me and Sephiroth will decide what to do with you." He jerked Vincent upwards. "On your feet!"

"Get… away… from… me…"whispered Valentine and with all the strength he had pushed Genesis away. The ex-SOLDIER staggered but stayed on his feet. A smug smile crawled on his beautiful face, making it seem like a mask. Vincent's cheeks felt warm, he raised a hand that felt as if it weighted a ton, and touched his face. A smudge of dark red on the black leather of his gloves – blood. Chaos was raging inside him, getting stronger by the minute, if it got out he'd tear Genesis apart, which was not bad in itself, however the truck and all people inside it would not survive the encounter either, the monster wished nothing more then to bathe the world in blood and the term 'friend or foe' was nothing to it. Vince raised the gun, his hand trembling and fired a shot. He could swear he heard double gunshot but it might have been the pulsating pain in his ears. There was an angry scream and the man in front of him had suddenly just… disappeared.

Vincent turned around, desperately trying to wipe blood from his face. That's where their eyes met.

Vince saw everything. In horror he stared through the whole thing, unable to move. The wind was carrying away the words but when Vincent reached out for his weapon, so did Vince. They've shot simultaneously and one of them definitely hit Genesis, as he grabbed his shoulder with a pained scream and launched himself upwards. He didn't come back, and Vince was ready to climb up to help Vincent up when Valentine turned around and looked at him. The fear that had just started to let Vince go, grabbed him once again. He gasped for air, the hand still clutching the gun trembling wildly. Vincent's eyes were glowing gold, surrounded by the traces of what seemed drying blood.

…_The Beast…_

The thought came from nowhere and disappeared into nothingness, as the glow had slowly extinguished itself, returning the face of a man in front of him to a normal state. But something in those eyes… There was surprise. Vincent saw something. Something no-one else knew about and it had puzzled him greatly.

The face of a scared child; wind playing with dark strands of hair; his all frame trembling like a leaf. But he was surrounded with an almost transparent blue-green aura that felt soothing somehow. The monster inside him started to calm down, it recognized something more powerful then itself. Lifestream's energy. No living people emitted that, the closest was perhaps Aeris but while her aura was invisible the soothing presence was there. But why would Vince, of all people, concentrate such enormous amount of Planet's life energy in himself? And did he even know? Instead of asking all those questions that were buzzing in his head he bowed towards Vince.

"Not a single word. To anyone."

The young man nodded silently and sort of slid down the hatch.

* * *

**A/N:.** Vince sure seems to be a special snowflake. Any guesses? Promise I shall not tell you if you guessed, heh. And I made Cloud feel a bit better. Go me. :P


End file.
